I Should Be Sleeping
by lleighhh
Summary: Three girls, three guys, one big city, and a whole lot of late nights. Several different encounters with this group of six leave them exhausted and frustrated. "It's way too soon to be obsessing like this." AH. OOC. Rated T, may change later.
1. Insomnia & You

_**This fic is dedicated to browneyes214 and Dreamchaser. Your fingerprints will never fade from the lives you've touched.  
**__**As well as Dreamchaser122 who keeps their memory alive.**_

**Sunrise-Sophiiee deserves some love! She is my pre-reader lady and makes sure I don't have any mistakes. So, basically, she rocks.**

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or Emerson Drive's catchy song.**_

**Are we really doing this again? I think sooo.. ;)**

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_I Should Be Sleeping  
__Prologue – Insomnia & You_

Insomnia.

This is an inability to fall or stay asleep for an adequate length of time.

Many things can contribute to causing your restlessness, including anxiety, stress, depression, hormonal changes, decreased melatonin, allergies, arthritis, asthma, heart disease, high blood pressure, hyperthyroidism, Parkinson's disease, physical pains, genetics…

The list goes on and on, but you have none of those.

Highly trained doctors and even sleep specialists come up with millions of treatments to try and cure this horrible nuisance. When nothing works you're left lying in bed, staring at the ceiling just hoping the sandman will come to put you out of misery, or some punk will come in and punch you right in the jaw to knock you out.

The next day you're exhausted beyond belief. You consider telling family and friends about your problem, maybe you do, but they all tell you the same thing.

"Oh, its just a phase. A couple more days and you'll be sleeping like a baby again." Or, "Try drinking a warm glass of milk before bed. Maybe you should start counting sheep." Or the famous, "They have pills for that, you know."

None of that is going to help you though. Nothing found in a doctor's office, medical book or home remedy could make you feel better because all those doctors and nurses and friends and family didn't consider the one thing, or person, that's been the cause of all this.

They didn't consider that love could be a factor, that you were up the whole night thinking about this somebody that turned your life upside down, that you lie there wondering if they're wondering about you too.

But when it all comes down to it, you know the only cure for your insomnia is them, because it's the only thing that makes sense.

_Even though I'm feeling so right, I'm so happy still I know I should be sleeping 'stead of dreaming about you… _

_It's way too soon to be obsessing like this._

-Emerson Drive, I Should Be Sleeping.

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**Reviews are better than a new fic.  
(especially when reviewers get a tease)**

**Love,  
Emeleigh**


	2. Bosses & Friends

**I love every single one of you, that's all :)**

**_Sunrise-Sophiiee_ pre-read and edited. She's just so good at it!  
L-O-V-E you, Soph!**

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_Chapter 1_  
_Bosses and Friends _

**_Bella Swan_**

"…and you have a meeting with the owners of that new Italian place over the lunch hour… Isabella, are you even listening to me?" My boss sighed. She already knew the answer to that question. The only time Esme Cullen used my real name was when she needed my attention.

"Yes, I promise I am. You were talking about the meeting this afternoon, I just zoned out. Sorry." I smiled apologetically.

Esme Cullen was the editor in chief of Seattle's own _Volterra Magazine_, she was a very powerful and highly respected woman. Esme could be an intimidating lady when she wanted to be, but once you got her talking about that stud muffin of a husband she was married to or the new pushup bra from Victoria's Secret, she could be a pretty cool chick.

Esme gave me a quizzical look, but then proceeded to prep me on my first project. _Santoreggia_ was the newest addition to the Seattle area. It was owned and operated by a very large, very boisterous family. Their grand opening was planned a couple weeks from today and it was my job as author of the Lifestyle section of _Volterra_ to review their restaurant.

I was scheduled to meet with the owners themselves at twelve o'clock sharp for an interview, but that wasn't for another four hours.

I gave a farewell to my boss and sauntered out of the room in search of something to occupy my time. It was only my second day at this job after all, and so far the article about the Italian place was my only project.

I casually ambled down the fluorescent-lit hallway and waved as my coworkers passed by. Once I reached the mass of cubicles, I plopped into my black swivel chair and spun around lazily. For a cubicle, it was pretty roomy. I had your average three and a half walls and no ceiling. There was also a bendy lamp, computer, telephone, and a pad of post-it notes which all sat on top of my plush white desk nestled in the corner. I had yet to bring little knick-knacks to decorate the space and make it my own.

It still seemed pretty surreal to actually have this job. Volterra was one of the most popular magazines in the industry, up there with In Style, Cosmopolitan, and Vogue. I remember my first day as an intern and looking around, wide-eyed at all the bustling people in the office. Being one of many interns, my chances were slim of essentially landing the job, but I was young and having fun exploring my options as a post-graduate so I thought, 'what the hell?' At least I could get some experience if nothing else.

_When we arrived that fateful Monday morning, the receptionist ushered us into a boardroom where we patiently waited to start the day. Then, none other than the great Editor in Chief herself strolled into the room like it was no big deal. _

_I about had a heart attack._

_For a journalist like myself, breathing in the same air as Esme Cullen was like a high school basketball player getting to play one-on-one with Michael Jordan. Yes, she was that big of a deal. Esme was a normal college grad like anyone else that started at the bottom of the food chain grabbing coffee, making copies, and answering phones. Her dirty work paid off when Mr. Volturi himself used to run the office and noticed her creativity and work ethic. He immediately bumped her up with a few promotions and she was the youngest editor on staff. Only a few years later was Esme hand picked by the boss man to run this office in the northwest while he started a new office in New York for V-Mag (Volterra magazine for pre-teens)._

_Esme Cullen was the fastest rising corporate executive in the Continental U.S. and she was my idol. _

_In the midst of my hyperventilating, I took a peek around the room and found only two other girls that looked as though they were sharing the same feelings I was experiencing. Did the rest of them not know who Esme Cullen was?_

_I gaped at Esme as she gave a very motivational speech about work ethics, fulfilling your dreams, and reaching your goals. Once she was done, she gazed around the room like she was measuring us all up, like she could see exactly how much potential we possessed._

_Her eyes landed on me and I totally tensed up. The left side of her mouth turned up in a small, half-smile before she moved on._

_Half-smiles are good… right? _

_We were then given a tour around the office where all the magic happened. Esme showed us everything, from where the ideas started and ended, to how the design of the magazine was determined, the many people that contributed to this effort, right down to the copy room._

_My attitude from earlier that morning had changed. This was no longer and internship I did for just the heck of it. I. Wanted. This. Job. _

_When we were dismissed for lunch, I made my way down to the cafeteria and ordered least messy thing they offered, a boring salad no less, in fear of somehow spilling on myself. I wasn't going to let anything keep me from reaching my goals just as Esme had talked about, and at that moment my goal was to land a job working right along Mrs. Cullen. I was determined._

_Of course gravity had other plans, and as I started searching for a table to sit at my left heel broke. My balance faltered and there I stood, lunch smeared all over my blouse and one leg slightly taller than the other._

"_Oh my goodness! Are you alright?" A shocked voice from behind me asked._

"_I've had worse…" I mumbled and bent down to retrieve my broken shoe._

_Once I stood back up I found myself staring into a pair of deep blue eyes, and I mean deep, royal blue, like the heart necklace from Titanic, blue eyes. The girl was absolutely gorgeous, her blonde hair was thrown into a low ponytail, and you could see the curly tendrils cascading down the back. She had a funky pair of platinum colored reading glasses perched atop her head and when I looked down as my face heated up, realizing the embarrassment of myself I had just made in front of this beautiful girl, I couldn't help but realize she wore barely one inch high heels._

_I cast a speculative glance up at her, I would have guessed she would at least be wearing two and a half's. "I didn't want to risk falling on my face my first day…" she shrugged, answering my unspoken question, "or toss food all over myself…" she chuckled, grabbing my arm and leading me out of the cafeteria, "Come with me and we'll get you cleaned up." _

_We ended up in the girls' bathroom; me sitting on the counter by the sink and who I now knew as Rosalie Hale, super gluing my high heel back together._

_We had gotten ourselves into a conversation about what things must always be in a woman's purse, namely really durable glue, when a petite woman rushed in. She couldn't have been over five feet tall and was carrying a large tote that looked like it could swallow her whole. She stopped short when she noticed the scene in front of her._

"_What happened?" she gasped in horror and pointed at my food covered outfit._

"_Well, my lunch decided it would rather be on me than inside me…" I laughed nervously as Rosalie shook her head in agreement._

_Realization dawned on her face and she asked, "You two are interns, right?" _

_At that moment I also realized I had seen these two women before as Rosalie and I answered yes to the small girl's question. They were the only other interns that had felt just as star-struck when Esme walked in the room as I had. The two girls I noticed earlier in the boardroom._

_After introducing herself as Alice Brandon, she quickly rummaged through her monster bag and whipped out a brand new blouse and skirt that matched my newly repaired heels perfectly._

_This girl seemed like she was always prepared. Alice must have been a girl scout growing up…_

_After that fiasco, we stuck by each other's side the rest of the day and eventually the entire year, becoming fast friends and working our butts off to impress Mrs. Cullen. We each formed a special bond with her, at work Esme was our mentor and idol we aspired to be like and during lunch breaks (when we had persuaded her to take a break from work and eat with us) she would tell us all about her days as an intern and the messes she got herself into. _

_Outside of work, Rosalie, Alice, and I were inseparable. We ended up getting a three-bedroom apartment together right in the heart of Downtown Seattle and loved every minute of it. _

_Our last month of the internship was in March and only four of our group's original twenty-five would be offered jobs. The process took nearly the whole day as one by one we entered the familiar boardroom to learn if Volterra wanted to kick us to the curb or invite us onto their team._

_Having gone in alphabetical order, Alice emerged from the room first looking defeated and disappointed, only to turn her frown upside down claiming she was just kidding and started bouncing around, squealing for being chosen as a journalist for the Fashion & Style section. Rosalie and I waited on pins and needles when another intern, Tanya Denali, came out of the room joyfully as she got offered the junior graphic designer position._

_After that each person who passed through those doors came out looking dejected from the obvious bad news they had received. Then it was Rosalie's turn. It seemed like she was in there for much longer than anyone else, when she re-entered the waiting area though, Rose was all smiles. She had been accepted as author of the Beauty article._

_This was it, only one more position was left. _

_I sat in the uncomfortable chair with my hands clasped in my lap. They started clamming up and my heartbeats became closer together and increasingly louder._

"_Isabella Swan." The receptionist finally called for me and I carefully walked into the room, expecting the worst._

_Esme sat there with a soft smile and excitement in her eyes, "Bella, I have been watching you very closely from the moment you looked like you were having a panic attack your first day here," she snickered, "Remember the speech I gave?" I nodded. "I talked about how I looked for people who wanted to work, and loved what they did, people who weren't afraid to reach out and grab what they wanted. You have shown that, Bella. You have shown us over this time that you would have done anything for this job, and I don't mean kissing ass to make your way to the top. I mean hard work, dedication, and a passion for what you do…" I heard her words, and tried to decipher whether this meant something good or bad. "…which is why Volterra would love for you to join us."_

_In that moment, everything stopped. My breath caught in my throat, Esme and the few people around her stared at me, waiting for my reaction, and all I could hear was my heartbeat pounding in my ears and the annoying tick of the clock on the wall, "Yes! Oh my gosh, YES!" I burst out._

_That afternoon, the whole office welcomed Alice, Rosalie, Tanya, and myself and I was introduced to my cute little cubicle._

That was one week ago. Now it was Tuesday, April 6, and I had a fancy nametag on the outside wall of my cubicle that read:

**Isabella Swan**  
** Volterra Magazine **  
**Journalist**  
**Lifestyle & Entertainment**

I spun around in my chair once more before I stood up and popped my head over the wall of my cubicle, "Good morning Mary Alice!" I said cheerfully.

"Yeah…hi." Alice waved her hand dismissively at me while she studied the arrangement if pictures on her desk. I watched her move one frame half a centimeter to the right and then move it back two centimeters to the left. That girl had serious OCD problems…

Scooting across to my other wall, I leaned over and found Rosalie trying out different screensavers for her computer, "Morning, Rosy Posy!"

"Good morning Jelly Belly!" she laughed back.

I went to go sit back down in my chair when instead, my ass made contact with the gray carpet, "Stupid rolling seat, just stay in one place!" I grumbled and pulled myself back onto my feet.

"You okay Bells?" I heard my two friends call from each side of me through the plastic walls.

"I'm fine." I huffed, grabbing the chair with two hands and firmly placing it behind my desk.

Alice and Rose appeared in front of me, silently giggling, "Having troubles?"

"You know it's really creepy when you two say the same thing at the same exact time like that." They just rolled their eyes and laughed…at the same time.

"Mail call! How are my favorite new employees doing this fine morning?" Mike Newton grinned as he parked his mail cart behind Alice and Rosalie.

"Fine, but Bella has already seemed to nearly injure herself and we haven't even been here an hour yet." Alice giggled.

"Bella, Bella, Bella," Mike tsked, "What _are_ we going to do with you?"

"Beats me, but if you do figure it out let me know. I've been trying to answer that impossible question myself for close to 23 years." I sighed dramatically.

Mike Newton was the biggest schmooze I have ever met. He was a good kid, completely harmless; a sophomore in college and also worked down in the mailroom, but the biggest gossip I'd ever met. If you wanted to know the 411 on all things Volterra, Mike was your guy. Although that wasn't much of a surprise, considering he worked along side Jessica Stanley, which definitely didn't help with his nosiness. She was queen of all gossip and Mike was her eyes and ears of this place.

News traveled faster than ice melting in hell when those two got to talking.

Mike chuckled at my comment as he scanned through his massive pile of envelopes, "Ah, here we are. Miss Swan, Miss Brandon, and Miss Hale, you each have a welcoming letter from Mr. Volturi himself."

Mike distributed our letters and with a tip of his invisible hat, he wheeled his cart away.

I tore through the white paper and unfolded the single sheet of paper.

_Dear Isabella Swan,_

_I am pleased to have you join our little family here at Volterra Magazine…yadda, yadda, yadda…If you have any questions or concerns…blah, blah, blah…Once again, welcome to the team…something, something, something…_

Sincerely, Mr. Aro Volturi

_President of Volterra Co._

"Well, I guess its official!" Rose squealed, "We are now proud employees of the most fabulous magazine in the northwest!"

**_Edward Masen_**

I pulled up in front of the tall building I would now call home and put the moving van in park. Climbing out of the cab, I walked around to the back, lifted up the door, and started unloading my things.

I huffed, staring at the mounds of boxes I had to transfer from the truck to my apartment. This was going to take a while…

"Edward Masen?" I heard a voice call to my right.

I carefully set down the box of breakable plates that were currently in my arms and looked over to find a tall, lanky man with wavy blond hair in his eyes and a _huge _dude with dark chocolate hair walking towards me.

"Yup, that's me." I smiled and offered my hand.

"Jasper Whitlock. They said you would be getting here around noon. We're your welcome party." He motioned to himself and the other guy, "I'll be working with you over at the station, and this is Emmett McCarty, he doesn't work at the station." Jasper chuckled.

I shook Emmett's large hand before picking up the box again.

"I can tell you need help getting all your stuff upstairs, so we won't even ask." Emmett smiled as he jumped into the back of the truck and grabbed three boxes, followed by Jasper.

In the hour it took us to haul all my things into my new apartment, I learned that Jasper and Emmett lived right across the hall from me. That was about it…we couldn't really talk much while lugging everything around.

Once we had finished the job and the mover guys picked up the van, I rode over to KZIZ headquarters with Jasper. Emmett promised to catch up with us later after he took care of some things at his own workplace.

We arrived after about a five-minute drive since traffic was light and walked through the doors of the KZIZ 98.9 FM radio station.

My new boss, Carlisle Cullen was waiting for us in the lobby. He was a fairly young man, in his mid-thirties who had naturally blonde hair that my mother would kill for and not a gray spec in sight. His hazel eyes were welcoming as Jasper and I walked up to greet him. "Mr. Masen, I'm glad you're finally here." He smiled warmly and shook my hand, "We have a few things to go over before you start next week, so follow me and I can show you around."

I was lead straight to the recording studio first which was on the top floor. The room looked brand new, it couldn't have been more than a year old. There were state of the art soundboards, microphones, recording materials, everything an audio manager wished they had at their disposal.

"This is the main studio where the shows that actually air on the radio are broadcasted from. You will be working up here quite a lot Mr. Masen, although, that being said, I think you will find it very rewarding seeing how your eyes lit up when we walked in." he smiled. "We just recently upgraded all our technology around September, so everything you see here is brand new."

I could only nod. There had to be millions of dollars worth of audio equipment right in front of me.

"I have you scheduled to work during the morning and early afternoon shows. That will include "All that Jazz" with Jasper "Jazz" Whitlock, who you already met, and "Lunch Hour With Leah" which obviously stars Leah Clearwater – who you will meet later this week."

I was then escorted around the rest of the remaining two floors where I found my office I shared with the other two audio managers, Sam Uley and Angela Weber, the break room, which Jasper mentioned was always stocked with plenty of donuts and coffee, the extra recording studios with the outdated equipment, and lastly, Carlisle's office.

"Well, that's all I have for you today Edward, you just need to fill out these forms so we can get your information stored in the computer. Bring them back tomorrow." Carlisle handed me a small packet and I was on my way.

As we walked out to the parking lot, Jasper asked, "What do you think? You gonna like working here?"

"Yeah, its way more laid back than anywhere I've ever worked," I admitted.

"That's just because Carlisle is a cool dude. He actually used to do the morning show until he got promoted and I filled in his place."

"So he's always worked at KZIZ?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah, Carlisle's dad owns the station so once he finished school, got a degree in business, and moved back to Seattle, his father offered him a temporary spot at the station until he found a job. He ended up loving it and had the morning show for a few years before his dad left him in charge and took early retirement."

"Huh, that's pretty funny."

"Uh-huh," Jasper said as they sped down the street. "And if you like Carlisle, you're sure to like his wife. Esme Cullen is one smokin' hot lady. She visits from time to time and is really great, she helps me out with my girl problems…or lack thereof." Jasper joked.

We arrived back at the apartment and my mouth watered as soon as we hit the fourth floor. I looked over at Jasper and he grinned, "I love when Emmett cooks."

Jasper unlocked his door and the scent wafted from the kitchen. I could definitely smell some sort of sauce and cheese. I liked sauce and cheese, so I followed Jasper and the wonderful smell.

Emmett was cheerfully whistling as he slipped on an oven mitt an opened the oven door. He reached in and pulled out the biggest pizza I'd ever seen in my life.

"Hey Em, it smells great. Whatcha cookin'?" Jasper greedily tried to steal a bite, but Emmett was too fast for him and swatted his hand away.

"Papa McCarty's own secret recipe. I thought our new friend here should be welcomed to Seattle the McCarty way, with good food," Emmett said seriously and laid the pizza down on the stovetop to cool.

We each grabbed a beer and a few slices of Papa McCarty's pizza and headed to the rooftop for a change of scenery. The April air was cool and refreshing and I leaned back in my chair, relaxed for the first time all day.

"Alright Edward, time for the grilling. Here we are, already sharing our food with you - and let me tell you something, Emmett doesn't mess around with food - and all we know is that your name is Edward Masen, you're an audio engineer, and live across the hall from us. Care to share a few more details?" Jasper asked as he took a swig of his beer.

"Well…uhh…" I ran my free hand through my hair as I thought about what to say, "I grew up in Chicago, I'm an only child, and I used to work at this crappy college radio station back in Illinois… what else would you like to know?"

"Got a girl?" Emmett asked suggestively.

"Nah, I mean I've dated but never anything too serious. At least not since high school…"

"Yeah, same here. There just aren't any girls that have struck me as the type I could bring home to mom…" he replied thoughtfully.

"That's because your mom is picky. No one is good enough for her Baby Emmy." Jasper cooed, as Emmett flicked a pepperoni at him.

"What about you guys? What's your life story?" I chuckled.

"Well I was born and raised here in this beautiful city. Went to college at the university, landed my job at KZIZ, and just been livin' life." Jasper smiled and propped his hands behind his head.

"Emmett over here grew up in a small town not too far from here and is the youngest of six and the only boy. His dad was adamant about having a son." Jasper smirked at Emmett.

"I don't think my mom was ever that happy in her life when she finally popped out a boy," Emmett laughed. "Jasper and I met in college after he made a pass at one of my sisters when they came to visit me. When Elizabeth socked him right where it hurt, I felt sorry for the little guy, taught him how to block a punch, and he's been following me around ever since."

Jasper chucked his crust at him, which Emmett nimbly caught and shoved in his mouth. "See what'd I tell ya? Emmett doesn't mess around when it comes to food," he said proudly as Emmett stuck out his tongue, visibly showing off his half chewed food. When he tried to close his mouth again, a chunk of it slid off his tongue and onto his nice clean shirt.

"That's disgusting man." I laughed and tossed him a napkin.

"You know Masen, you're alright," Jasper mused.

"Yeah, it'll be fun having you around," Emmett agreed as he wiped the soggy crust off his shirt.

We spent the better part of the late afternoon cooped up on the roof as Jasper and Emmett told me stories about the crazy things they got themselves into. Most of them followed the line of Emmett getting a big idea, Jasper's support of the idea, and one of them getting completely embarrassed.

We cleaned up our mess and trudged back to our respective apartments. Jasper promised to give me a ride to work the next day when he went in since my car was still being sent over.

I tiredly waved goodbye to my new neighbors and shut the door to my apartment. All I wanted to do was crawl into bed and fall into a peaceful sleep.

Too bad I had to assemble the bed first.

Crap.

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**Reviews are better than wearing your lunch!  
(especially when reviewers get a tease)**

**Love,  
Emeleigh**

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	3. Diners & Burns

**What's up, what's up? Here's chapter two!**

**Soph pre-read _superspeedyfast_so thank her for the chapter getting posted today!  
And go check out the banner she made for the story on my profileeeee!**

_Chapter 2 – Regulars & Burns  
_**_Bella Swan_**

I twirled my fork around in the spaghetti until I had a big enough bite and shoved it into my mouth. Noodles hung from my lips and I noisily slurped them up and swallowed.

Esme appeared in my doorway and gave me a slightly disgusted look, "Please tell me you did not use those table manners at your meeting." She motioned with her finger circling around her own mouth to let me know I needed a napkin.

I quickly wiped the sauce off my mouth and smiled, "First off, no, I was a perfect lady and very polite. They really liked me and said it was a pleasure to meet me, so hah! Second, we got to talking and totally forgot about the 'lunch' part of the lunch meeting so they wrapped up some of the yummy spaghetti for me to go." I quickly told my boss so I could shovel in more food.

"So it went well?" Esme asked excitedly.

"I'd say it went better than well!" I squealed. "I already have a rough first draft close to finished. They were so easy to talk to and it helped that there was like twenty of them to answer all my questions, so by the time I left I had more than enough information."

"That's wonderful Bella!" Esme gushed and gave me a warm hug before dashing off to attend to her boss-woman duties.

A few minutes later, Alice and Rosalie came down the hallway gabbing on and on like a couple of teenage girls.

I chucked my to-go box from _Santoreggia_ in the trash and waited for them to make it over towards me.

"Bella! How did it go? Were you nervous? Were they nice? How's the restaurant? You didn't trip or anything, did you?" Alice started firing off questions like a flippin' cannon.

"Shh! Alice, let her talk!" Rosalie hissed, "So did they have any hot sons?"

I rolled my eyes at these ridiculous ladies I called my best friends.

"The meeting went really well. I was nervous at first and I _did_ trip when I stepped over to shake their very good-looking son's hand…" I smirked at Rosalie, "but he ended up catching me before I made contact with the floor and asked if I really did just trip over nothing."

"What did you say?" Alice asked with wide eyes.

"…Well first my face decided to turn beet red and then I said, 'Yes. It happens quite often so watch out - I've been known to be a danger to everyone and anyone in a ten foot radius,' and tried to laugh it off. It seemed to work, they all thought it was funny and forgot about it quickly."

"Oh Bella…" Rosalie laughed silently and shook her head in shame.

"Hey! It could have been way worse!" I defended.

"You're right Bells - he could have easily just let you tumble to the floor, making you even more embarrassed." Alice pointed out.

"Exactly." I nodded, "But anyway, the meeting went well, their food is to die for, and they invited me to their opening night…and I _may_ have been able to persuade them into allowing me to invite two guests of my choosing…" I trailed off and looked around absentmindedly.

Alice was bouncing up and down excitedly in her towering four-inch heels. I took a moment to wonder what it would feel like to wear them and not have to worry about landing myself in the ER at the end of the day.

Rose looked thoughtful for a moment before she spoke up, "Come on, Bella. We all know you're taking Alice and me with you! I mean who else would you invite?"

"Oh, I dunno…Tanya?" I offered half-heartedly.

Alice stopped bouncing and snorted at the same time Rosalie did.

Okay…so I would probably invite the homeless man in the alley out back before Tanya. She was a… dull person, let's put it that way.

"When is it? When is it?" Alice quickly recovered and resumed her bouncing.

"In about three weeks."

Alice started mumbling to herself about shoes, accessories, and blouses as she disappeared behind the walls of her neighboring cubical.

"You've awakened the beast." Rose snickered and walked past me into her own workspace.

The rest of the day past by relatively quick; I had been informed of my new projects and immediately set to work on my computer, typing furiously and researching my topics.

Before I knew it, five o'clock arrived and I gathered up my things. I swung over and let Alice and Rose know we had to roll, waving goodbye to Esme as we strolled past her open office door.

We piled into Rose's refurbished '63 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia, a gift from her father for getting hired at Volterra.

We called her 'Stella' because that's what Rosalie and her dad had named it, after the lady at the junkyard who had sold them all the car parts and looked exactly like the car. You've heard the saying 'you are what you eat'? Well if it was 'you are what you drive,' then Stella would be this Volkswagon Ghia. I know it sounds weird, but this lady honestly has the same facial structure of the front of this car. I've seen pictures.

Ever since Rose was old enough to aim a flashlight at the right spot, her and her dad had been working on Stella. Around the time Rose had moved to Seattle for college Stella was so close to being finished, but was cast aside because Mr. Hale never found it any joy restoring the classic car without his daughter.

Apparently, once Rose had told her parents about the internship, Mr. Hale had a newfound determination to fix the car and surprise his little girl when she called with the good news.

Stella, the actual person, ended up helping Mr. Hale being the extra set of hands he needed to put the finishing touches on.

Last weekend, the Hales, Stella the person, and Stella the car, all drove up to congratulate Rose for getting hired, and you should have heard the scream that poured from her lungs when she saw that heap of metal. I swear my eardrum ruptured.

And it is a really sweet car, but I'm not allowed to call it a car. Stella is part of the family.

Alice and I had our own cars, but we decided carpooling was the best option since all three of us left from the same apartment, worked in the same building, and came back to said apartment after work. And of course, Rosalie _had_ to drive Stella anytime she could. I didn't mind though, we all looked hot riding in that convertible with the top down and our hair blowing in the wind, if I do say so myself.

The only thing that bugged me was that Alice was always faster at calling shotgun than me. So unfair.

We pulled into the parking garage and hopped out, Rose blowing Stella a quick kiss before catching the elevator up to our floor.

Our heels clacked in harmony as we traipsed down the hall and into our apartment.

"Our shift at Vicki's starts in an hour, girls!" Alice reminded us as we went to out respective rooms.

Being an intern meant working for free. The whole point of interning was learning the business you were headed into and gaining experience, which was great, but it lacked in the income department. Our parents helped chip in for our living arrangements, but we had to get jobs elsewhere for money to buy groceries and anything else we needed/wanted.

There was this diner right across the street, _Vicky's_, which was 50's themed and had the most amazing burgers and milkshakes. None of us knowing how to cook, the girls and I spent most of our nights grabbing dinner there and became very good friends with the owner herself, Vicky Laine.

One night over double-chocolate milkshakes, we poured our complaints, stress, frustrations, joy, and happiness out about interning at _Volterra._ By the end of our little heart-to-heart moment we had with Vicky, she understood the gist of the financial problems we were facing and offered us jobs as waitresses.

We couldn't say no to the flexible hours, generous salary, and even better tips. Alice, Rosalie and I had been faithfully moonlighting as waitresses with our polyester scarves around our necks, wearing black capri pants, white polka-dot halter-tops, cat eye glasses, and bubble-gum pink jackets faithfully the entire year of our internship. When we had gotten full-time, _paying_ jobs at the magazine, we decided it was time to turn in our two-weeks notice.

To say it was devastating was an understatement. We loved the diner, despite the Halloween costume uniforms, and it was hard to face the fact that I would soon never tie that itchy piece of cloth around my neck again.

I sighed as I slipped on the fake black glasses with rhinestones adorning the edges and waited for Alice and Rose on the couch. I needed to quit being so glum and drum about this, we still had a week and a half left until it was official at least.

Alice scampered out of her room, followed by Rosalie and we linked arms as we made our way out of the apartment, across the street, and into the diner.

"There they are!" Vicki squealed as we walked around the counter and slipped on our aprons.

"And right on time too, that's a first." I snorted. Rosalie had the tendency to lock herself in the bathroom for hours on end while she got ready. Alice and I wouldn't have had a problem with it if that weren't the _only_ bathroom in our apartment.

Alice checked the clock on the wall to see if I was right and smiled when she realized we had walked in the door right when our shift started. Rosalie scowled at me.

I breezed past her, grabbed a handful of straws, a pen, and my ticket notebook before stuffing them into the pockets of my apron.

I stole a glance at my section of tables and noticed no one had arrived for me to wait on yet, so I wandered back into the kitchen.

"How's it cookin', good lookin'?" I called as I swept through the swinging door. Riley grinned and waved at me with his spatula in hand while James and Laurent grunted a hello and returned to their intense thumb war.

"Man Riles, if I had to work with those two I don't know if I would last." I said sympathetically.

"Eh, nothing I can't handle."

Riley was head cook here at Vicki's, the man you went to when you had a craving for something good and fattening. James and Laurent were his useless 'hired help', I guess you could call them, and were absolute twerps.

"Bella! You've got some customers at table six." Vicki hollered through the horizontal window.

I told Riley I'd catch up with him later and plastered a professional smile across my face as I approached the party of three.

It was a group of regulars that came by every week. They were a fun bunch to talk to while I put off my responsibilities for a few minutes and listened to some crazy stories from their work place.

And I have to admit that I might have laughed at a few of them I didn't find funny at all just because they were great tippers… but they didn't need to know that. It was mostly because I didn't understand half the vocabulary they used. Their jobs required equipment with really high-tech names.

Tonight they didn't seem as bubbly as usual though. Apparently, one of them had been offered a new job in The Big Apple and this was the last night they would be able to grab dinner together.

I offered my congratulations on the big move and was promised I would meet the replacement for him soon when they introduced the newbie to their weekly tradition.

It was a pretty busy night and by the time we closed up my feet ached and an annoying little pang inside my head was threatening to burst into a full-blown migraine.

Vicky, Rose, Alice, and I were all seated at the counter rubbing our temples.

Riley appeared out of the back with a tray, "You girls look like you need some sugar." He chuckled and slid us each a root beer float.

I took a big swig and sighed; Riley's floats were heaven in a cup, I couldn't get enough.

"So girls, tell me about your first full day as journalists at the magazine." Vicki gushed with a twinkle in her eye.

"Amazing. Nerve-wracking, but amazing." Rose sighed.

"Yeah, it was great but I'm exhausted!" Alice huffed as the three of us gaped at her. Mary Alice Brandon was never exhausted.

She didn't notice our expressions and turned to Riles, "Do you make Mountain Dew floats? I could really use an energy boost." At which Riley proceeded to give her a disgusted look, but turned to go make her one anyway.

"NO!" Rosalie and I roared at the same time. When Alice drank Mountain Dew she went haywire. I only allowed her one 8 oz. bottle in the morning otherwise she'd get all jittery and twitchy. MD was to Alice as like, 200 of those little pixie sticks were to children.

"But guysss!" she whined, "I'm sooo tireeeddd!"

"No, no, no, _no_! You know if you drink some now you won't be able to go to sleep and then Rose and I will have to listen to you stumble around the apartment all night."

"You suck." She pouted and slumped back in her seat.

We left shortly after that little incident and trudged back into our apartment, all three of us collapsing on the couch in the living room.

Rose had cocooned herself in the left corner while I sprawled over the remaining space and Alice hung across our laps.

Our apartment consisted of your standard kitchen, living room, three bedrooms, and one bathroom. It had this fluffy gray carpet throughout the entire place and boring white walls. Our furniture was loud and vibrant though. When the three of us moved all our stuff in, we realized nothing matched. Alice had a pink hammock (yes, a real hammock that was actually hanging from our ceiling at this very moment), pink curtains, basically pink everything. Rose had a mixture of green and purple pieces, like her funky, lime green box table that our TV rested on and a deep purple lamp shaped like a mascara wand. I was the one with the couch that we were now lying on. It was a navy blue along with a matching lounge chair.

So when you threw them all together, it looked like a rainbow monster crashed into our room and threw up. But I loved it.

"Hey guys…" Rosalie said just above a whisper, "Where do you think we'll be this time next year? I know around this time _last_ year I would have never guessed I'd have found you two or gotten hired at a magazine…" she trailed off.

"This time last year I was begging my parents to let me move out here." Alice said softly, "I didn't know what would happen once I moved to Seattle, but it was the closest, biggest city my mom and dad would even consider…"

"I remember exactly what I was doing the very day a year ago. My father sat me down and said, 'Now Bells, as much as your mother and I love having you around, you gotta get out of this place and make something of yourself. You need to put that college education of yours to good use.'" I told them in my best Charlie imitation, "Then he slapped down a brochure about post-grad life and made me read it." I laughed.

"What about you Rosie?" Alice nudged her with a small foot.

"I tried out cosmetology school. It wasn't my thing. You should have seen how many different colors my hair was that month." She snorted.

For a little bit we all just laid there, sorting through our own thoughts.

A year was a long time once you realized how much can happen in those 365 days. I could get promoted, have a boyfriend, fiancé, husband…_psh, yeah right_…I could move into an apartment by myself, I could move to a different city, different country, move back home…_no, forget that_…

"I propose we make a pact with each other." Alice broke the silence, "This time next year, no matter where we are or what we're doing, we get together to catch up at Vicki's and look back at everything that brought us there. All the ups, downs and in-betweens."

"You think we won't still be together all the time in a year?" Rosalie asked, a little worried.

"I have no clue. I hope so, but part of the thrill of the future is never knowing."

_**...ZzZZzz…**_

The next morning I woke up to a blinding light shining right in my eyes.

_I'll miss having corneas…_I thought as I threw an arm over my face.

I made a move to get up and groaned at the soreness of my muscles and joints. Sleeping on a couch with two other full-grown women seemed like a good idea at the time, when I was too tired to crawl into my own bed.

I lifted Alice's head off my stomach and stood up, stretching my back. That's when I realized it was Thursday. And we had actual jobs now, which required us to be there on time.

…_What time is it?_

I reached in the cushions and retrieved my cell phone from a cushion under Rosalie's butt. It was 7:38.

"Shit! Alice, Rose, get up!" I shook each of their shoulders and started running around like a mad woman.

I sprinted to the kitchen, started up the coffee maker and snatched a bottle of Mountain Dew out of the fridge for Alice and chucked it at her.

"Ahh! That was my head you freak!" She growled.

"I don't care! We have about," I glanced at the clock on the oven this time, "twenty minutes to get to work on time!"

Rosalie sprung straight up and bolted to the bathroom, "How am I supposed to get pretty in a fourth of the time it usually takes me!" she wailed from behind the closed door.

"I don't know, but you better figure it out quick because Alice and I need to get in there too!" I kicked the door for extra effect to let her know I wasn't kidding.

Alice was still sprawled across the couch rubbing her forehead with one hand, clutching the bottle of caffeine in the other, and her legs thrown over the back.

"Alice did you not hear me? I said _twenty minutes_ until we have our butts at the office!" I practically screeched.

She waved me off and unscrewed the cap to her drink. Then the girl who called _me_ a freak chugged the entire thing in ten seconds flat! I watched as her eyes widened and she started to gain energy.

"Okay, I'm going to go pick out yours, mine, and Rose's clothes - you make sure she's out of that bathroom in five minutes!" she ordered and dashed off.

I planted my feet firmly in front of the bathroom and started persistently banging on the door. Rosalie never made a move to open it, so I sat there knocking for what felt like forever. I had just started to drum out the beat to a Spice Girls song when the door flung open and I face planted on the tile floor.

"Get up Bella! You only have like thirteen minutes!" Rose pulled up on my arms and helped me get to my feet again.

"I am aware of that." I said flatly as I brushed myself off.

Alice came barreling through us and dropped the handful of beauty products she had pile din her arms on the vanity.

"Get over here Bells, I only have three minutes to put apply your five minute face!" she said hurriedly.

I plopped down on the stool and let Alice poke and pull at my eyes, cheeks, and lips, "There, all done, now go put on the clothes I laid out on your bed."

"Yes, mother."

I threw on the outfit Alice picked out and hobbled around the kitchen while I tried to put on my shoes and fill my thermos with coffee at the same time.

Bad idea.

Just as I slipped my foot through the last heel I started wobbling. Naturally, I grabbed onto the edge of the counter to right myself. This would have worked if it weren't for the scalding cup of coffee that I bumped with my hand.

It tipped over and the brown liquid came cascading down onto the floor.

"AHH! Hot! Hot! Hot! Motherof- FURGHH!" I bounced up and down, clutching my burning fingers.

"What the hell is going on in here Bella?" Rosalie screamed when she rushed into the kitchen and saw me hopping all over the place.

"Coffee…shoes…fell…HOT!" gasped.

Then Alice came to see what all the ruckus was about, "Bella, if you got coffee all over those clothes I will physically hurt you."

My loving best friends everyone. Neither cares about the third degree burn on four of my fingers, no. The inanimate clothes are more important than that!

"Cool your jets Mary Alice, nothing got on your precious outfit." I said as I stepped over the puddle and ran my hand under the faucet.

I grabbed a paper towel and wrapped my reddened skin before unraveling the rest of the roll and laying it on top of the spilled coffee. "There. I'll clean it up after work, we have to go."

We all grabbed our bags and rushed out the door, coffee-less.

Rosalie whipped into the nearest parking pace and we jumped over the seats, not even bothering to open a door, and raced to catch the closing elevator doors.

"Hold the door, please!" Alice called desperately to the lone person in the elevator already.

A hand shot out and the doors stuttered before opening again.

"Thank you so much." I panted as we filed into the small space.

"Not a problem ladies." A smooth, deep voice said in amusement.

I would know that voice anywhere.

"Good morning Carlisle." The three of us greeted him together like a 5th grade class.

"Running late girls?"

"Yeah… and I had a bit of an accident on our way out the door." I blushed and lifted up my hand to show him the damage.

"Ooh. That's looks like it stung." He winced, "Have you put anything on it?"

"No, running late, remember?" I smiled sheepishly.

He gently grabbed my hand and ran his cool fingers over my searing ones. It felt sooo good. "I think Esme has a first aid kit up in her office, come with me and we'll get you all bandaged up."

I just nodded and followed him to her office when the doors dinged open. Glancing over my shoulder, I found Alice and Rosalie glaring enviously at me as Mr. Studly Cullen held my hand as we walked to Esme's office.

Esme was on the phone when we entered, but Carlisle walked over to her desk and pulled the first aid kit out of one of her drawers. She gave him a questioning look, but when he pointed at me she nodded in complete understanding.

I sat down in one of the chairs in front of Esme's desk and let Carlisle tend to my injured hand.

"How did you manage to burn four fingers Isabella?" he asked curiously.

"Well there's the fact that I'm clumsy already and it didn't help that I tried to put my shoes on at the same time I was trying to fix my coffee…" My cheeks turned pink again.

Carlisle just shook his head and rubbed the cortisone cream on my skin before covering them with gauze.

"Good as new. Now, if you need a cup of coffee please have someone else pour it for you. I might not be here to tend to your medical needs next time." He teased.

"I'll try to stay out of harms way, I promise. Thank you Carlisle." I giggled like a thirteen-year-old girl and left the room. I mean he just said he would tend to my needs… How was I supposed to react?

_**…ZzZZzz…**_

Another day past by with working on my article for the upcoming issue of the magazine, lunch with the girls, a meeting with Esme, and waiting tables at the diner.

When we got home that night we fell onto the couch again, much like the night before.

But this time I made sure to set an alarm.

* * *

**Reviews are better than sleeping in!  
(especially when reviewers get a tease)**

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Emeleigh**

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**:)**


	4. Fruit & Boxes

**Some people were a little bummed that there wasn't any Edward last chapter... Good News: This chapter is ALL Edward :) Bad News: Some chapters up until chapter 9 will not have Edward in them at all, but don't worry! I promise he'll be around... :)**

**Soph edited this chappie... and in blue! :)**

_Chapter 3 – Fruit & Boxes  
****__Edward Masen_

Never move. Ever.

It had taken nearly an hour to put my bed together. I ended up losing one of the little screws and was crawling around the floor in search for it half of that time.

Now, for the past two hours I have been sifting through box after box in search of my bedding and sheets. I decided to just start unpacking each box and successfully found all my cups, plates, and silverware.

But I didn't want to eat right now. I wanted to sleep, damn it.

I got pretty excited when I came across a box labeled 'Bedroom', but it was only filled with pillows.

Around midnight I gave up hope after opening the umpteenth box and just finding clothes.

I picked up the box of pillows and padded to my room. The space looked bare. All that sat in my bedroom was an open suitcase that clothes were spilling out of and my bed that consisted of its frame and a mattress. I threw two pillows onto it and lay down.

It helped that it wasn't terribly chilly out tonight; I think the temperature was around the mid-sixties, but the rough texture of my mattress made it impossible for me to get comfortable. I finally just decided to go tough it out on the couch and dragged my feet into the living room, only to find that I had piled even more unopened boxes on top of it.

In my half-asleep state, I moved behind the couch and pushed all the boxes to the floor in front. Then I flopped over the back and nestled into the cushions, my feet hanging over the edge.

I was so exhausted that I didn't even care anymore and fell right to sleep.

.

The next morning I awoke to the alarm of my cell phone, which still blared through my ears even though it was in a totally different room. I peeped an eye open and took in the wreck that was my apartment. I had thrown empty boxes all over and you could no longer tell if there even was a floor there to begin with. Adding to the empty boxes were the multiple still full ones that had crap I still needed to unpack, and I had to go into work today. Great.

I climbed over the back of the couch again to stand up (since there were, of course, boxes blocking the front of the couch) and immediately felt a sharp pain shoot through my spine.

I'm finding those bed sheets first thing when I get home.

Not even bothering to shower, I changed my clothes and threw on a baseball cap before heading out the door.

I decided to wander the street of my building in search of something for breakfast and so I could see what all was close by. It looked like I lived in a pretty decent area. There was a 99 cent store, grocery store, convenience store, music store, computer repair business, a small restaurant, a coffee shop, dry cleaner's, a video rental store, and then more apartment buildings showed up.

I glanced at my watch and decided I had enough time to stop by the grocery store and grab a few things so my cabinets weren't completely bare.

Stepping through the automatic doors, I noticed it wasn't very lively. Well, I guess that would make sense; not many people go grocery shopping this early in the morning, I would assume. There was only one cashier and two stock boys that I could tell and maybe a total of two other customers.

I grabbed a cart and started wandering aimlessly down the aisles, just looking over all the shelves. I didn't really have a clue of what to buy. I went from my mother providing meals for me, to the college cafeteria, then back to my mother after finishing school, and the very few nights I've lived here, Emmett had cooked. This was completely out of my element.

I tried thinking of things I liked to eat and healthy stuff that my Mom made me eat. I started off in the cereal aisle, then moved on to milk to go with my cereal, and everything started getting easier from there. All I had to do was think of something I would want to eat in the near future and a list of items I needed would pop into my head.

I had to admit I was oddly proud of myself. The basket was filled with future meals I had put together, all without any help.

So this is what it feels like to be a self-providing adult…

My pride quickly dissolved when I reached the produce center. There were so many fruits and vegetables; I didn't know which you were supposed to smell, knock on, check for green spots…

I probably stood there just staring at everything for a good ten minutes. That is, until I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Do you need any help? You've been standing there for like, ten minutes." The girl giggled and verified that I had been staring helplessly for a long time like I had thought.

I felt my face heat up at the fact of having to admit to this stranger that I had no idea what I was doing, "I… uh, well, I don't know… how..."

"I figured as much. You're a guy and you look like a virgin judging by all the frozen dinners you picked up."

My eyes bugged out, "W-What?"

Her eyes went wide as well once she registered what had actually come out of her mouth and quickly clamped a hand over her lips to try and hide her giggles, "No! I meant grocery store virgin. You've never been grocery shopping before, by yourself, have you?"

"Oh. No, actually it's… my first time." I smirked, playing along with her virgin comment from before.

"Okay, so…" She took a deep breath and started schooling me on the ins and outs of produce. I started to feel like I needed to write what she was telling me down and when I started typing a memo on my phone furiously to keep up with her speedy voice, she stopped and raised an eyebrow at me.

"What? We both know I'm going to forget all of this the second you walk away."

She snorted and nodded, "True. You are a guy."

Together we had successfully picked out enough healthy foods so that now when my mother called and inevitably asked if I was eating right, I didn't have to lie.

After I finished paying, I hooked all the plastic bags on my arms and caught up with my 'produce teacher' as she exited the store as well.

"Thanks helping me, now I have a little experience under my belt." I chuckled.

"You're welcome, just don't forget who… popped your cherry!" she started giggling again and waved goodbye as we went our separate ways.

Once I got back up to my apartment, I unloaded all the food and couldn't help but smile when I placed the bag of cherries on a shelf in my fridge.

Then, like any experienced grocery shopper would do, I stuck a piece of paper to my refrigerator as a start to my next list… along with a written out copy of how to buy fruits and vegetables.

Later that morning, Jasper stopped by after his morning show so I could hitch a ride with him over to the station. Hopefully my car would arrive within the next few days. It was getting old having to ask for rides everywhere.

I was finally finished with filling out paperwork, messing around with transfer documents from my old workplace, and filed into the KZIZ employee directory.

Eric Yorkie, the man who I will be replacing, had me start shadowing him so I could get the feel of what he did on a daily basis. It seemed straightforward enough. I showed up at an ungodly hour of the morning, made sure there were no technical problems with the equipment, and made sure the broadcasts ran smoothly.

Then I was introduced to my colleagues, Sam and Angela.

"So, you're the new guy." Sam stated, shaking my hand.

"Yes sir. Does that make you the… old guy?" I chuckled.

"Heck no! Thirty is not that old." He seemed like he was reassuring himself more than me.

"He's in denial. Hi, I'm Angela." She rolled her eyes at Sam and shook my hand as well.

"Edward Masen." I nodded.

"When was it that you moved here? Carlisle mentioned that it wasn't too long ago…"

"Yeah, I just got here late yesterday morning."

"Wow. And when do you start work here at KZIZ?"

"Next week. Bright and early Monday morning." I said with a tight smile, not excited about the time I had to start waking up.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to the hours. If an old man like me can do it, so can you." Sam grumbled teasingly.

I was in the middle messing around with some of the older gadgets, just to figure out how they worked, when my phone started ringing.

"Hello?"

"Hi, this is Seattle Moving Co. in regards to your vehicle under the name Masen. It has just been delivered and you can come by and pick it up any time."

"How about right now?" I asked excitedly.

"Perfect, we'll have it ready."

I dropped what I was doing, dashed by Carlisle's office to let him know I would be back later and hailed a cab to go pick up my Volvo.

If I was a fourteen-year-old girl, you might call me giddy from the way I bounced in the backseat as the driver pulled into the Seattle Moving Corporation's parking lot.

I quickly threw him my fare and hopped out, practically skipping to the entrance. Yes, I was that excited about a car. This meant I could finally put good use to one of the two parking spaces I received when I bought the apartment… plus the fact that I didn't have to car pool anymore.

After going through all the necessary actions with paperwork, I was finally handed the keys where I then proceeded to not even bother with a 'goodbye' before bolting out the door.

My shiny, silver Volvo was sitting in front of me, not a scratch on her, just like I had left it. That didn't keep me from inspecting further though. I did the whole once over, even getting down on my hands and knees to make sure that she was still in pristine condition.

And, no, I did not name the car. I refer to her as a girl only because I take care of her as I would a lady. It only makes since, she's just as expensive…

That was a joke.

With a new highlight to my day, I cheerily headed back over to the station to finish up the day. The last task I had was organizing my section of the office Sam, Angela, and I shared.

I hummed the tune of the song that was last playing on the radio as I stepped through the doors. There was a woman that walked up right behind me and like the gentleman that I was, I held open the door and let her pass by.

"Thank you. Good song by the way; for such a young kid that Bieber boy sure knows a hell of a lot about love." She smirked.

I had to laugh at that, "Yes, the heartbreak of a recess romance is truly the best inspiration for lyrics." I rolled my eyes.

She laughed along with me and I only noticed her age when the laugh lines crinkled around her eyes. We followed along the same path for a few seconds before she turned and held out her hand. "Esme Cullen. I think that was the highlight of my day, seeing a grown man bopping his head to "Baby.""

I immediately took notice of her last name and mentally high-fived myself for making a good impression on the boss' wife as I shook her hand. "Edward Masen. And in my defense, Ludacris adds a nice edge to the song with his rapping…"

"Edward Masen. Hm." It wasn't like a drawn out 'hmmm…' but more like she was just acknowledging she knew of me, which I guessed as much seeing that she lived with the man who hired me.

We rounded the corner where Jasper and Carlisle stood casually, discussing something. "My, my, Esme. Don't you look lovely today." Jasper laid the charm on thick, purposefully as far as I could tell.

"No, no, no Mr. Whitlock, don't try that act with me," she chuckled, "I will not set you up with any of my employees. They are hardworking women and it will be no picnic when they show up to the office, sniffling and puffy-eyed because you didn't call them back. No amount of compliments will change my mind, even if they are true." She smirked as she made her way over to Carlisle and Jasper frowned.

"On another note, I just ran into your new audio manager on my way in." Esme continued, "He is quite the gentleman."

Carlisle raised his eyebrows up at me and I snickered, "And apparently we both enjoy a little pop now and then. Specifically when it's sung by a ten-year-old."

"Bieber? No, the guy's almost sixteen." Jasper chimed in. We all looked back at him, wondering exactly how and why he knew that, but he just shrugged it off.

Carlisle cleared his throat to cover up a laugh, "Well, Mr. Masen, looks like you are the master of first impressions." I decided to take that as a compliment, hoping Carlisle meant that he felt I would continue to make many more, good, future impressions.

I hoped.

We ended our conversation then, Carlisle and Esme headed out and Jasper asked if I was ready to go. I let him know that I had just gotten back from picking up my car and would see him when I finished up here.

Emmett and Jasper were going to help me unpack later and I would provide food and beer since I had gone grocery shopping today and for some reason felt the need to for everyone know I had.

I was still proud of myself.

When I arrived back at my apartment, I whipped up a couple plates of wings and then called the guys over. Before eating we hooked up the TV and cable in my living room so we could catch some of the game scores as we ate.

After that, we rolled up our sleeves and got to work. I let out a bitter laugh when the first box I put my hands on contained basically all of the bedding I was looking for last night. Without hesitation, I sprinted into my room and made the bed. I was more than ready for a good night's sleep and couldn't wait to crawl under the covers tonight.

About an hour later the three of us found ourselves a little distracted. When we started crushing up the empty boxes I was stopped by Emmett before stomping down on one of the larger ones. He was so sure that he would be able to fit inside and wanted to try. I looked back from him to the box several times and didn't think Emmett really had a clear picture in his head of how huge he really was.

"Dude, I'm telling you, I can fit!" he argued.

"Just let him, he can find out the hard way. And plus, it'll be hilarious watching him squeeze himself in there only to get stuck." Jasper chuckled as his friend studied the box, most likely trying to decide the best way to get in.

From the short time that I had known Emmett, I realized that he didn't really think before acting. This is a conclusion I came to when he stood on my couch and settled on diving, butt first, into the box.

"Hey, Emmett I don't think-"

"Shh, shh. This is the beauty of being friends with Emmett. Just enjoy the moment." Jasper shook his head and laughed.

Emmett started bouncing up and down slightly for some momentum before counting off, "5…. 4…. 3…. 2…."

I barely had the strength to watch, already cringing from the thought of pain he was sure to go through.

"1!"

It all happened relatively fast, Emmett flung his body up and backwards, his aim amazingly accurate as he started to sink down. Jasper had already assumed the position, hands braced on his knees, so when the right time struck he could let out the laugh he was holding in. I was still cringing away, but couldn't _not_ watch. It's like when you watch America's Funniest Home Videos and you make sounds of distress when you see the person fall off their roof or send a bike barreling for a tree, but you watch and laugh at them anyway.

This was exactly like that, except it was more painful and funnier to watch at the same time because I actually knew the idiot.

A flash of panic quickly registered in Emmett's face when he realized the position his body would be in a matter of seconds…

"Ah, ah! AH!" _Thud._

And that my friends, was the glorious sound effects of Emmett hitting the bottom of the box.

His reaction was a little delayed if you ask me. It took approximately five seconds before Emmett started cursing all kinds of things. I think he might have even made up a few words.

"Motherof-! Shit! SHIT! I'm stuck! You guys, I'm fucking stuck! It hurts! Oh hot damn, does it hurt!"

Jasper was totally oblivious to his shouting though, because he was shaking on the floor, gasping for breath. I was in a state of shock. I just couldn't believe that he actually went through with it. The dumb shithead had actually thought this was a good idea and landed himself wedged between four walls of cardboard!

When Jazz started slapping the floor, wheezing, as he tried to get some oxygen to his lungs, I lost it. I toppled over and had to catch myself on the edge of the coffee table before I cracked my head on it. It didn't help that Emmett's legs were flailing around and I could barely make out his fingertips, grasping the edges of the box as he tried to climb out.

We had sobered up, but then the sides of the box gave in from his tugging and his hands snapped down and smacked him in the head.

"Fuckin'A! Ow, my eye!"

I regretted right then not grabbing my camera because this shit would have won us ten thousand dollars for sure. Tom Bergeron would have, without a doubt, thanked us for sharing this 'you-will-crap-your-pants-because-its-the-most-hilarious-thing-you-will-ever-watch-period' video.

Then Emmett realized why we weren't over there helping him.

"Get your asses over here now! I don't see any part of this being in any way so fucking funny! Valuable things are getting squished and I think I pulled a butt muscle!"

We both stumbled over to the box and when I peered down inside, Emmett's face was all kinds of purple and I swear he was going to pop a vein.

I took a deep breath and tried to talk normally, "I think we should… tip… the box… over!" and then I lost it again, just imagining Emmett's face when we turned the box on its side.

Jasper just wheezed again and motioned for me to help him tip it. It took ten minutes because neither of us were very strong while dissolving into fits of giggles like a couple of girls.

"Damn it! Get me out of this thing! NOW!" Emmett roared.

We finally managed to accomplish tipping the box, but not without another string of profanities pouring from Emmett's mouth. Jasper unfolded the bottom of the box, hoping that he would be able to just shimmy his way free, but that only managed to pull his shorts down, giving us a nice view of his crack.

Aaaand… like the twelve-year-olds that we were, Jazz and I grabbed some hand-fulls of packing peanuts and started stuffing them down his pants.

"I swear on all my families' secret recipes, when I get out of here, I will be kicking both of your asses!"

"Well, considering that you're relying on Edward and myself to get you out of there, I don't think you should threaten us like that." Jasper said smugly.

Emmett just muttered something under his breath, probably some more cuss words, as we tried to push him out the top.

"Ow, ow, _ow_! If you expect me to walk like a normal human being again, I would suggest stopping with the destruction of my spine!"

We took a break to get the rest of our laughs out and then decided pushing or pulling him out wasn't going to work. I grabbed the box cutter of the counter and started slicing it through the cardboard.

"Edward, I know we haven't known each other too long and I really do think of you as a friend, but if you cut me I will have to shank you."

"Shank me? With what? I have the knife." I reminded him.

He didn't have time to answer because I nicked the last end of the box and it burst open, Emmett's limbs shooting out and falling to the floor.

"Ahhhhhhuhooooohhhhwahhhhh…" he groaned/moaned/sighed. It was a really weird sound…

"Feel better?" Jasper smirked and had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing again.

"Much… except for all these damn peanuts!" he said suddenly and reached down his backside, grabbing fistfuls of packing peanuts to empty out his pants.

I took one glance at Jasper and like that I was rolling on the floor, snorting and guffawing my little heart out.

Emmett scrunched up his face angrily and smacked each of us on the back of our heads, hard.

"Ughhh…" I groaned clutching my hair. Then a wild look entered his eyes and I immediately snatched the box cutter off the floor before any ideas entered his head, especially ones resembling prison fights.

.

That night I slept peacefully, knowing that my apartment was completely unpacked, I had a great job (well, so far anyway), friends that did stupid, hilarious crap, my car…

Yup, things seemed to be looking pretty great from where I was standing.

As I waited for the darkness to take me, I went over a list in my head of what I had to do tomorrow.

I needed to remember to call my mother soon before she thought that her only son forgot about her and called here herself, crying.

I needed to remember to get gas on my way to work tomorrow.

I needed to meet Leah, the other Radio DJ I would be working with.

I needed to get to know Sam and Angela a little more if I was going to be working with them as closely as Eric had made it seem.

I needed to…

I couldn't really think of anything else. Though out of that list I was dreading calling my mother the most. I just knew she would launch into an interrogation about if I met anyone yet and I would tell her about Emmett and Jasper and people from work. But then she would say 'No, Edward. Have you met any women?' and I would try to awkwardly change the subject but it wouldn't work so I would end up telling her no. This would lead into an entire round of questions, tips, and tricks that were supposed to help me find a place to meet women. Which then would cause me to make up an excuse so I could get off the phone as quickly as possible.

A week would go by and then we would go through the same routine again.

This is exactly what I went through all during college. That is, until I had told her I met someone, then it was a whole new conversation.

I realized the only thing I could do to shut her up was to find someone. And at the moment it didn't seem like such a bad idea. All the other pieces of my life were just falling into place, maybe meeting a girl wouldn't be such a bad thing.

I finally drifted off, images of grocery stores and cherries flashing through my dreams.

* * *

**Okay, okay! I'm bringing back favorite part! I wanted to see how this would work out without doing it, but i don't like it one bit! Soooo, what was your favorite part of this chapter?**

**Mine:**

_**Aaaand… like the twelve-year-olds that we were, Jazz and I grabbed some hand-fulls of packing peanuts and started stuffing them down his pants.**_

**totally have done that to my brother :)**

**.**

**Reviews are better than packing peanuts :)  
(especially when reviewers get a tease!)**

**Love,  
Emeleigh**

**_www . lleighhh . tumblr . com_ -BLOG!  
_www . twitter . com / lleighhh_ -TWITTER!  
_www. formspring . me / lleighhh_ -FORMSPRING!**

**:)**


	5. Movies & Dimples

**All errors are mine this time around!  
Enjoy :)**

_Chapter 4 – Movies & Dimples  
_**Rosalie Hale**

"Rosalieeeeee!"_ bang, bang, bang,_ "Rosalie Lillian Hale!" _bang, bang, bang,_ "Get your skinny butt out of that bathroom _now_!" I rolled my eyes as I heard Alice stomp away from the door. In about five more minutes, Bella would be griping at me to get out of the bathroom too.

A typical weekday morning for us.

It wasn't my fault that I had the longest and thickest hair and it took me forever in the shower. Not to mention the same qualities applied to my leg hair too. It was completely gross, really. My hair was always one of my best features, it's what I was known for in high school. The downside was that it applied to all other hair on my body as well. Some girls could go for two days without shaving and only have a little stubble to show for it. But me, _oh no_, in twenty-four hours I would begin growing back my freaky man-legged gorilla-hair.

I needed _all_ the time I used in the bathroom every morning. If not, I would be forced to go out in public looking like Big Foot, or Chewbacca, or something else that was really hairy.

And let's face it, I would never, _ever_ let the male population who walk the same streets of Seattle as I do think of me as Chewbacca. That's just... _ew_.

I was only putting my friends' best interest at heart. Bella and Alice would not want to walk around in public with a best friend who looked like she was wearing sweaters on her legs either.

"ROSE!" _kick, kick, kick,_ "Get." _kick,_ "Out." _kick,_ "NOW!" _kick, kick, kick, BAM!_

I took a peek at the little clock on the vanity. _Right on time, Miss Swan._

With a final lip gloss check in the mirror, I opened the door right when Bella reared her left leg back for another kick, "Hold it, Mia Hamm! I'm finished." I said quickly. I did _not_ want another bruise on my knee. Bella could kick pretty hard, I've learned from experience.

"Well it is _uh-bout _time!" She sighed and walked past me.

Then Alice came sprinting down the hallway, Mountain Dew in tow, muttering to herself, "Twenty-nine minutes, twenty-nine minutes, twenty-nine minutes…"

I don't know why the two of them constantly worried about being late. We've never been late to the office once. Our weirdly scheduled mornings worked out perfectly fine, they just hadn't realized it yet.

Alice and Bella would 'secretly' wake up at 6:30 every morning (they thought I didn't know) to take their showers first, and I rolled out of bed at 7 a.m. While the two of them were in their bedrooms, deciding what to wear, I took my shower (taking enough time to remove all unwanted hair and blow dry the rest of it that was left on my head). About the time I finished washing my face and moisturizing my skin, Alice would start banging on the door. Eventually she would give up and then Bella would appear shortly after with her kicking. In that amount of time, I have successfully applied all of my makeup. Then I would leave the bathroom for the two whiners, and go get dressed. By the time I was fully ready, Bella and Alice will have begun shouting at me from the front door to come on. I always quickly pour myself some to-go coffee and we rush out the door and we arrive at Volterra at eight o'clock on the dot, thanks to my driving skills.

It hasn't failed yet. Well, except for that time we overslept…

I slipped on a pair of my most comfortable heels, just as my name echoed through the apartment.

"ROSALIEEEE! IT'S TIME TO GOO!"

"COMING!" I called back and shuffled to the kitchen, picking up my thermos.

We piled into Stella and zoomed off to work. I smirked when I caught the time the radio read, 7:50 a.m. It only took nine minutes to get to the office; we were running early today.

**...zzZzZZ...**

"Ow! Why do they make these stalls so damn small?" I growled after hitting my knee on the toilet paper dispenser.

"Maybe you're not doing it right…" Alice said, although a little distracted.

"How is there more than one way to do this? If I bend the wrong way, I might land in the toilet!"

"Rose, I would probably fall in the toilet before you." Bella laughed.

"How haven't you even injured yourself yet? I've already knocked over the freaking tampon trashcan and-"

"Ewww!" Both of my friends interrupted me.

I ignored them, "...and hit my knee!"

"I agree with Alice, maybe you're not doing it right." I heard Bella's stall door open, followed by the one on the other side of me.

"You guys already changed? I still need to get my shirt on!"

"Well, I don't see why you're so surprised. You spend more time in than bathroom than us at home; why would work be any different?" Alice giggled.

"_Why would work be any different…_" I mocked in a squeaky voice.

We had the earlier shift at the diner tonight, so the only way we would be able to make it on time was to get ready at work and then head straight over there. It was turning out to be a little harder than I had anticipated.

I finally yanked my top on and stumbled out of the tiny space, "I call the handicap stall next time!" I huffed, pointing a finger at Bella. The little sneak ran ahead of me and got there first today.

I tied the little scarf around my neck and then we headed out of the office and over to Vicki's where it was a packed house. I was actually excited because a busy night meant more tips and watching Bella try to avoid falling flat on her face as she weaved around all the people.

I waited on a table of fun guys who kept running over to the jukebox to replay the YMCA. When that happened, the girls working behind the counter had to do the dance, so everyone got a kick out of that. Then there was an old couple that thought it was hilarious when Bella ran into me and the whoel lot of straws in our aprons scattered all over the floor. They must have felt bad about it though because I got a pretty hefty tip from the couple.

We got off at around seven o'clock, so since it was still early Bella and Alice had Riley whip us up some dinner and I left to go rent a movie since it was my turn to pick.

The little bell dinged as I walked through the door and headed towards the romantic comedy section. I scanned the choices and didn't really see anything I liked, so I grabbed one that seemed the most interesting – _Love Spelled Backwards Is Love_ – to hold onto in case I didn't find anything else. Then I went over to the action movies. There was one other person in the aisle walking up and down the walkway, looking like he was concentrating very hard on picking out just the right movie.

I scanned the choices and saw an interesting title and movie cover – _Face Punch _– so I reached for it, only to collide fingers with the weird, concentrated guy.

Neither of us backed away or apologized, but instead latched onto the DVD case and started playing a mini-game of tug-o-war.

"_Excuse you_, but I was just about to rent this movie." I said in a snotty tone.

"Yes, excuse me for trying to pick up the movie I had already grabbed. Not 'just about to'. " He scoffed back.

"Yeah right! You weren't even touching it!"

"I was too!"

"Oh _please_!"

"Is there a problem here?" I snapped my head over the middle-aged owner who had his eyebrow cocked at us, watching our not-so-playful banter.

"Yes, this man is trying to take my movie from me." I said in my best sweet and innocent voice.

"Oh, give me a break! You aren't buying this, are you?" He plead with the store owner.

"He doesn't _have_ to buy anything because you are trying to steal the movie from me!"

"No. You are trying to use your position as the 'poor mistreated woman' in this situation to get your way!"

"I am not!" I gasped like I was honestly offended.

"Are you shitting me?"

"Hey, hey, hey!" The owner raised his voice, "Enough. There are two copies of that movie, why can't you each just take one copy and be happy?"

I glanced over at the shelf and sure enough, another DVD was sitting there. It was a good thing the guy I was fighting with let go and grabbed that one because I had made up my mind about renting _this_ movie, the one in my hand, and no other.

Weird, movie-protective guy backed away from me instantly once he had the DVD in his hot little hands.

_Ha. Ha._

I was reading the back cover, after the store owner decided we wouldn't be anymore trouble, and started giggling uncontrollably.

Mr. I-grabbed-the-movie-first looked up from his own cover and raised both his eyebrows at me.

"I don't even want to watch this movie anymore." I snorted as I set it back in its spot.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me…" Movie-guy shook his head.

"Nope, I think I'll just go with my chick flick." I smiled and flashed him the cover of the movie I found earlier.

He finally cracked what was either a smile or a grimace and shook his head again, "Well, enjoy your movie then."

"I will."

I giggled once more and walked up to the cash register where the owner's eyes bugged out, "You mean you went through all that fuss and you didn't even want it?"

He made me start laughing again, "Nope."

He rang me up and handed me my receipt, but not before mumbling, "Women are crazy."

I guess Movie-guy was in line behind me and had heard him too, because he replied, "Tell me about it," as I exited the store.

**...zzZzZZ...**

"Bella, Bella, Bella, Bella, Bella, _BELLA_!" I squealed as I ran down the hallway where she was standing and just about tackled her.

She made an 'oof!' sound when we made contact, but other than that no harm was done. "What's got you all excited?" she chuckled.

"I _love_ my job!"

"Me too! Why do you love yours?" Alice popped in the conversation with a big smile.

"I get to go meet with Zafrina Amazon, of _Amazon Essence Cosmetics_ this afternoon!"

To say I was _just_ excited was a hell of an understatement. I was freaking head over heels in love with this project. Zafrina was only the woman who created the very first mineral based foundations, and then later developed a whole line of mineral products, all found in the Amazon jungles.

The woman was effing talented and I got to interview her in only a few hours!

_Oh shit._ Only a few hours!

"Okay, you guys have fun working and I'm going to go re-do my makeup." I knew I looked good enough, but I had to make sure my face was presentable for the woman who re-invented cosmetics.

I snatched my travel case out of my purse and went straight to the ladies' room. While I touched up, I silently sent a quick thank you to my parents for giving me a good pair of genes and the ability to cover up a pimple well.

When I looked in the mirror I was never insecure about my looks. Yes, maybe I was about my leg hair, but that was it. I felt that if _I_ felt I looked hot and gorgeous, then I _was_ hot and gorgeous. (My confidence is also something I'm known for.) Sometimes people tell me I come off a little snooty, unapproachable, and intimidating, but it's not on purpose. Like, I know Bella was really hesitant around me when we first met.

She thought that she was plain and not worth looking at, while placing me up top with all the Maxim Hot 100 girls. I quickly put an end to her ridiculous thoughts a couple days after we met; Bella was one sexy bitch and if I were chosen for that list, Bella would be right there with me.

Alice would end up making her own place on that list. She had this weird, quirky thing about her that when you took in her fashionista-style status, choppy bob, and the face of some sort of Disney princess, she was irresistible. Like every man's secret dream of being prince charming for that one lucky lady out there, Alice was a cross between their own version of Cinderella, Snow White, and Jasmine.

I took pride in having such hot babes for friends. When we walked into a room, all eyes zoned in on us and we took control of the place. Granted, Bella's face was always permanently red the entire night, but I could tell somewhere inside her she loved all the attention.

Deep down, anyways.

After gliding on a fresh coat of cherry gloss, I said goodbye to my besties and set off to meet the makeup guru.

**...zzZzZZ...**

Zafrina was just as I had thought she would be. She was feared, but respected by all who worked for her and friendly, but reserved when meeting me.

We discussed her previous products and the new line of one hundred percent natural ingredients from the jungles. The best part though, was getting a decent sized tote filled with her fuckawesome cosmetics that weren't even in stores yet!

Did I mention how much I loved my job?

I even ended up asking her for a hug at the end of the interview because I just loved her and her genius mineral-mind _so much_.

Zafrina's boutique wasn't too far from the office, so I had walked. I exited the building and started fishing around in my purse to find my phone. I needed to call Alice, or Bella, or Esme, just _somebody_ so I could tell them about practically the best day of my life.

I finally spotted it in the very bottom of my bag, pinned under my gigantic wallet and a bottle of lotion. I was pulling it out when out of nowhere a hand wrapped around my elbow and started yanking me backwards.

I could hear a really loud horn blaring in the background and some random shouts coming from people beside me on the sidewalk. I stumbled backwards, my movements being controlled by the very strong individual who still had their meat hooks wrapped around my arm.

"Let go of me!" I said harshly.

They didn't let go, only tightened their hold, except now I was being pulled back so fast that my feet flew out from under me and I rammed backwards into something rock hard.

"Ow!" I felt the air get pushed out of my lungs for a second when my back made contact.

That's when I felt the heavy breathing in my ear. I craned my neck to look at whoever was behind me, and mentally prepared myself to kick the creepy, grabby guy in the balls if it was called for.

What I saw in front of me was not creepy looking though, _no sir_. He had soft, hazel eyes framed with fine textured eyelashes. They were looking at me with concern. (I could almost count how many eyelashes he had, that's how close we were)

I leaned back only slightly – his hold on me limited my movements – and took notice of his short and loosely curled brown hair, and a pair of thin lips that his struggled breaths escaped between.

"Are you okay?" he asked in a voice that was too low and attractive for his own good.

I processed his question and was a little confused, I have to admit, "Uh…yeeeaaahhh…" I drawled out. _Why wouldn't I be okay?_

He finally released my arm and I hadn't realized how tight he had actually been holding me until I felt the circulation come back.

"You do realize you were almost ran over by a car, don't you?"

"What?"

"When you were walking along the cross walk. You went right as the stop light turned green and some jerk wasn't planning on yeilding for any pedestrians." He explained.

"And you… saved me?" I asked slowly. I wasn't really understanding...

"Just barely." He chuckled, kind of darkly.

I didn't really know what to say to him. "Thank you. It's mostly my fault, I guess… I was looking for my phone and not really paying attention…" I smiled sheepishly and waved my cell in his direction.

"Yeah, I saw you." He shook his head at me.

We stood there awkwardly for a few beats, not really knowing what to do. I had never been saved before, damsel in distress just wasn't my style. I didn't know if I was supposed to offer him something or maybe kiss him…

_Yeah, you'd like that wouldn't you?_

_Oh, yes. I. Would._

I closed my eyes to try and refocus and not think about attacking this total stranger in the middle of the sidewalk with my lips. When I opened them back up he was still staring at me looking almost amused.

"You sure you're okay?"

"Yes, sorry. I just don't know- I mean do you- Is there anyway I can… thank you?" I fumbled over my words, which normally doesn't happen to me. That's more of Bella's thing.

He rubbed the stubble on his chin for a second while he thought about it, "How about you let me walk you back to wherever you're going, just in case you decide to wander out into the middle of a busy intersection again."

He grinned at me and I just couldn't find a bone in my body that wanted to tell him no, even though I was screaming at myself to let it be clear I could take care of myself perfectly fine.

I didn't listen to that voice though. This man was just being entirely too cute and gentlemanly, especially when he smiled like that and showed off his dimples. Dimples were a weakness of mine. I couldn't say no to dimples.

"Alright." I nodded and motioned ahead for us to start walking.

"So tell me…" he smirked, "what was so important about getting to your phone that kept you from watching where you were going?"

"What made you start staring at me and then jump in to be my hero?" I countered back.

"I asked you first."

I rolled my eyes and caved in to answering his question because he was still smiling with those awesome dimples, "I wanted to call my friends and tell them how great my day has been. Look, I was given this whole bag of the best makeup in the world. Wouldn't you want to call and tell someone that?"

"Oh, you know me so well!" he mock-gushed like a girl.

I rolled my eyes and laughed."Okay, now answer mine."

He suddenly seemed to get a little bashful and looked down at his feet, "I.." _ahem. "_I- Well, you were just walking super duper fast and plowed right past me. It was hard _not_ to miss you."

_Riiiiiight… I didn't buy that for one second._

"I guess that's a good thing, right? If I hadn't of gotten you to notice me, then I'd probably be getting strapped to a gurney right now."

"Yeah, thanks to my super human speed." He teased and flashed those fucking dimples again.

_God, if he keeps doing that I can not be held responsible for my actions._

We walked in silence the rest of the way until we reached the front entrance of the magazine.

"Well, this is me..."

"You work at Volterra?" he asked. I was surprised he even knew about the women's magazine.

"Uh-huh, why?"

He brushed off my question, "No reason. So, do you have someone else who can supervise you, or do I need to follow you around the rest of the day to make sure you aren't killed?"

I rolled my eyes again and hit the side of his arm.

_Oh. Well helllllooooo muscles…_ "No, thank you. I can take care of myself, but I'll just be driving home with my roommates later. Nowhere else."

"_You're_ driving?" he looked at me skeptically.

"Yes, I am an amazing driver." I sighed, hitting him again.

Okay, so maybe it was just to get a feel of his huge muscles again, but they were attractively large and rock hard.

"Alright. I'll see ya around then. Be safe."

"I will. Thanks again." I waved and entered the front doors. When I reached the middle of the lobby I turned around and walked as quickly as I possibly could in three-inch heels back outside. _I never did ask him his name…_

When I got there he was gone, I wasn't even going to try to lie, I was disappointed. The guy had saved my life _and _he was hot.

_Well now maybe that will teach you something Rosalie_, I mentally yelled at myself, _next time a hot, muscular superhero offers to walk you back to work, GET HIS NUMBER!_

I took the elevator up to my floor and got off, still thinking about my conversation with Dimples (what I had decided to refer to him as).

I stopped by Esme's office and talked through the interview with her, going over what all Zafrina and I discussed and then let her go through the little goody bag I had gotten and pick out what she wanted. I had realized when I was looking through it earlier that there was like five of everything in it.

Then I went by the cubicles and found Bella and Alice lounging out in my small area waiting for me.

"Don't you two have anything better to do than hang around my work space?" I asked flatly, coming up behind them.

"Rose! How did it go? What was she like? Ooh! What did you get?" Alice started bombarding me with questions like I had expected, but stopped when she noticed the _Amazon Essentials_ tote I was carrying.

"Just a little gift from Miss Amazon…" I smiled and went through the bag, showing them everything.

"…But that's not even the biggest thing that happened to me." I continued while they started trying out a few of the lipsticks and mascaras.

"Something better than meeting Zafrina?" Bella asked, shocked.

"Mmhmm, I almost got ran over by a car-"

"WHAT?" they both shouted and spun around to face me again.

"But this really, really hot guy with dimples saved me."

"Ooh… sounds like you didn't stand a chance." Bella smirked, knowing my turn on to dimples.

"I didn't." I sighed, pouting over the fact that I was so stupid to let him walk away, "And I still don't."

I had to find him again. You don't just come across such good looking - not to mention nice and sweet and _muscular_ - men like that everyday.

Even if I had to stage another time where I almost got 'run over' I might just do it, if it meant having him save me again…

**...zzZzZZ...**

I was walking down the sidewalk again, but instead of searching for a cell phone in my purse, I was searching for a brown, curly-haired man in the swarm of people.

I would pass by a guy every so often that looked similar to him, but up close he wasn't even close to the man I was trying to find. Finally, the masses of people separated and there he was.

Dimples.

Strong arms, stretched out towards me and a smile on his face.

I dropped my things and set out in a dead sprint towards him. When I got just close enough to where my fingertips grazed the swell of his bicep, he vanished. I was still propelling forward, not able to stop myself and ended up in the middle of the street.

A car's engine revved to my left and began careening towards me. I couldn't get away fast enough befpre the vehicle would surely squash me flat on the pavement.

I jerked up in my bed, gasping and panting like some kind of dog. My mouth was dry as I swallowed down a lump in my throat.

_It was just a dream._

I fell back onto the bed and stared at the ceiling for a while, just now grasping the fact of how much Dimples had actually done for me. He saved my life.

I got up and padded to the kitchen, the scratchiness of my throat becoming more and more uncomfortable, to get a glass of water.

Once I made it back to my bedroom, I was wide-awake. The only thing that kept circling around in my brain were the words, "You just let him leave."

I mean, I couldn't have asked him to stick around so I could buy him dinner or something? The guy _did_ prevent me from getting turned into a pancake on Rainer Square!

_Rosalie, what the hell is wrong with you? You don't stumble upon random hot guys on the streets of Seattle that save your life everyday! You'll probably never see him again and spend the rest of forever wondering what could have happened!_

I spent the entire night going over every little detail of those few minutes I spent with Dimples, finding spots in our conversation where I could have easily asked him out.

_I am such an idiot!_

I worried and stressed over my stupidity to the point where I came to the conclusion that I was going to die alone. All because I didn't even ask my hero what his name was.

Before I knew it, it was six in the morning and I took a quick power nap before sneaking into the bathroom to commandeer the mirror.

* * *

**...and the sleepless nights begin! I honestly love this Rosalie, she is so much fun to write! What do you guys think of Miss Rosalie 'Chewbacca' Hale?**

**.**

**Favorite?  
"How haven't you even injured yourself yet? I've already knocked over the freaking tampon trashcan and-"  
...mainly just because this is the first fic I've used the word 'tampon' in :P**

**.**

**Reviews are better than hairy legs!  
(especially when reviewers get a tease)**

**Love,  
Emeleigh**


	6. Confrontation & Callers

**sorry about the lack of teasers this time around! i figured you would rather me post the whoel chapter tonight than do replies tonight and put off posting for later ;)**

**i love Soph ...T H I S M U C H... for her editing skills!**

_Chapter 5 – Confrontation & Callers  
_**_Jasper Whitlock_**

"And that was Enrique Iglesias featuring Pit Bull with _I Like It_ here on 98.9 KZIZ, your number one spot for today's hit music." I announced into the microphone.

"Good morning, everyone! Today is Thursday, April 8 and it is 7:31 a.m. Let's start your morning off right, with me, Jazz Whitlock and 'All That Jazz'! Go grab yourself a cup of coffee and a bowl of cereal so we can get this Thursday over with and it can be Friday already!"

"To start off the morning, we've got an interesting brain bender for all you listeners today. I'll read the question and then open up the phone lines. Winner will receive a meal for two at the new restaurant _Santoreggia, _opening up about two and a half weeks from today."

"Okay, the question is: Twenty-five percent of men always pack one of these when they travel. What is it?"

"The phone lines are now open, and here is our first caller; Hello! Give us your name and your guess."

"Hi, I'm Sarah, and I think it's probably a condom?" The woman's voice sort of asked over the line.

"No, I'm sorry! I can assure you more than twenty-five percent of men probably carry condoms around all day." I laughed into the mic.

"Next caller, what's your name and what's your guess?"

"This is John, and men always pack a gun?"

"That's a good one, but not what I'm looking for. Think exactly the opposite of a weapon."

"When we come back, I'll be taking some more calls, but right now here some music as you're on your way to work. This is Michelle Branch with _Breathe._"

I turned up the song and switched off my microphone as I answered the rest of the phone calls. I put three callers on hold, one of which had the right answer and waited for the song to end.

"Again, that was _Breathe _by the talented Michelle Branch. We've got a few more callers ready to try and answer our question, so let's see if they're right!"

I went through the first two people, letting them make their guesses and then telling them they were wrong and to try again tomorrow. Then I opened up the line for our lucky winner.

"Give us your name and your guess, please."

"I'm Jessica, and the answer is a stuffed animal_._"

"We have a winner! Yes, you heard right, a recent study by a British hotel chain. Travelodge has found that _twenty-five percent_ of men take teddy bears on the road with them when they travel for business. These men report that their stuffed animals remind them of home and the significant others they have to leave behind."

"Congratulations Jessica! You have won yourself a meal for two at the new restaurant opening down on 2011 4th Ave. They'll be running for business starting April 30, so everyone be sure to get in your reservations before they're all booked up!"

I started a new song and then returned to Jessica so I could let her know she could either come down to the station to pick up her free meal tickets or we could mail them to her.

After that, I finished up the rest of the show with some funny stories, weird news from today and events going on over the weekend.

Leah showed up outside the studio, ready to begin her shift just as I was wrapping up my segment and putting on a song.

"Great show today, Jazz." She high-fived me as I walked past.

"Thanks. They're all yours." I motioned toward the inside of the studio and waved goodbye.

Eric was going over a few more details with Edward as they switched controls over to Sam for his shift, so I made my way over the Carlisle's office to run him by a small segment I wanted to do during my show tomorrow.

I knocked on the door, and his deep voice granted me entrance.

"Hello, Jasper! How did everything go today? Good?" Mr. BossMan eyed me curiously from his desk chair, probably wondering why I came to speak with him.

"Yes, everything went well. I actually had a question about a new segment we could add to the show…"

"Well, let's hear it." He waved me over and I sat in one of the deep burgundy chairs seated before his desk.

Now normally I am very comfortable around Carlisle, despite his power over my employment. When it comes to pitching a new idea or anything with confrontation though, I get a little fidgety. And not just with him, with anybody. It doesn't matter if I'm asking for a raise on my salary or just having to tell Emmett that the pants he's wearing don't go with his shirt, I always get nervous and feel like an idiot.

Today was no different.

I cleared my throat and began, "Okay, so recently I… uhm, had a very interesting interaction with this woman…"

"Jasper, let me stop you there for a second. Is this actually about the show or are you trying to get dating advice from me? Because Esme would be the one to go to for that…"

"No! I promise it does have to do with the show. This woman is not someone I would even consider asking for a phone number. Believe me, you'll understand once I've explained."

"Alright, sorry to interrupt."

I went into the whole story; from thinking I was just running a quick errand, nothing out of the ordinary, to wanting to punch some random lady in the face the next.

"…and then I was thinking we could have listeners send in crazy or weird things that happened to them during the week and I'd read the funniest out of the bunch on Fridays. Kind of like good riddance to the week and a much needed laugh to get everyone through the workday before the weekend arrived."

Carlisle had his elbows rested on the flat surface in front of him, hands fisted, and his chin perched on top of them. He looked up at me with the look he gives when he's thinking hard about something.

I waited for him to say something …anything, but he never opened his mouth, so I finally asked, "What do you think?"

He looked at me once more and then removed his elbows from the table, "I really like it. A lot. We just need a title for the segment…" he trailed off, rubbing his jaw.

"I was thinking about that too. How about just something simple like, 'Crazy, but True Stories of the Week.'?"

He seemed to stew over that for a moment, "Perfect. We'll have you launch that tomorrow with your …experience and I'll have Gianna set up an e-mail account specifically for that segment."

"Great! I'll see you tomorrow then."

_**...zzZzZZ...**_

Edward and I went to meet Emmett for lunch after I left Carlisle's office and I very excitedly explained the new addition to my morning show.

"You know what other story you should tell?" Edward smirked and eyed Emmett.

"Which one?"

"The one where Emmett got stuck in the box…" he couldn't finish the sentence because the mental image alone of Emmett's feet dangling in the air was enough to throw you into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.

I couldn't help but join in as Emmett sat there glaring at us. Seriously, if looks could kill…

"Oh, man! Good idea …I will definitely be using it tomorrow." I sighed, catching my breath.

"That's awesome. You two just wait. One of these days you're going to do something unbelievably embarrassing and the first person I plan on telling will be some girl you're interested in, then we'll see who's laughing!"

"Yeah, because Jazz and I could totally top trying to fit inside a small box…" Edward said sarcastically.

"You two," Emmett pointed at both of us, "_suck_." and then noisily scooted out his chair from under the table to throw away his trash.

"Jasper?" Edward turned to me once he decided Emmett was far enough away so he couldn't hear, "Is Emmett always that pissy? I mean, I know I've barely known the guy a few days, but I thought he would be over the whole box incident and find it as freaking funny as we do now..."

"Yeah, something's bothering him. Normally he would be laughing at himself and attempting to convince us we should let him try again."

Emmett started walking back so I straightened in my chair and squared my shoulders, ready to confront Emmett about his moodiness lately.

Now this type of confrontation, when I needed to get to the bottom of what's been bothering my friend, I'm okay with.

"Em, are you okay man? You seem a little… stressed or somethin'…" I asked carefully.

He eyed me for a second and then shifted his gaze to Edward before slumping down in his chair, "Yeah, okay… I'll tell you if you promise to not laugh and call me a chick or whatever." He eyed us again, challenging Edward and me to let so much as a chuckle escape.

We both nodded and he continued, "So… I was running an errand this morning, totally minding my own business, when this smokin' blonde girl plows right past me on the sidewalk. Naturally, I started checking her out and then she goes to cross the street when the stoplight turned green and this asshole completely ignores the fact that someone is right in front of him and is about to run her over!"

I kind of just sat there staring at Emmett because this was starting to sound like one of those sappy scenes in a romantic comedy where the two main characters meet, and I had no idea how to react to that.

"Granted, the girl wasn't paying attention either, but that's not the point. The point is, I was standing there watching all of this unfold and all I could think about was getting her attention so she didn't turn into road-kill. So, I started yelling at her to watch out, but of course, she wasn't listening, which forced me to run up behind her and yank her back onto the sidewalk just before the inconsiderate jerk zoomed right past us."

Yup, I could definitely picture Emmett coming to the rescue right as an orchestra began, playing some sort of fast-tempo, high-energy music filled the cinema.

"Then she was screaming at me for some reason – she might have been anyway; I wasn't really listening to her - and I was still holding onto her wondering why I was getting yelled at by the woman whose life I just saved. After her little freak-out she turned around and I finally got a look at her face, which now I can't forget about no matter how hard I try. I walked her to her workplace, giving a lame excuse about needing to make sure she was okay, and then that was it. She left and I didn't even ask her what her name was or get a phone number. I just let her go and now it's like she's been yelling at me in my head about how stupid that was. Every. Single. Day. I'm starting to get the worst migraine, man."

He sighed and slumped lower into the chair, staring at the top of the table with a grimace and rubbing his temples.

I still had no clue what to say; thankfully Edward asked the question I wanted to ask most, "This actually happened? You _seriously_ saved some hot girl from getting killed, walked her all the way back to wherever she came from and in that amount of time, and didn't even learn her name?"

"Well, it's not like I did it on purpose!"

"And you're acting like this," I waved at Emmett who now had his arms crossed over his chest and head hanging backwards over the back of the chair like a ten year old that wasn't getting his way, "because you regret not asking this girl out?"

"Obviously!" His head snapped back up and looked at me like I should be wearing a helmet. "I knew you guys wouldn't understand. She's like my ideal woman. If I could create a girlfriend for myself, it would be her. You don't find that everyday; I did and then just let it walk away!"

"No, we get what you're saying Em. But you're right, we can't fully understand what you're going through because that's never actually happened to us…" Edward tried to reason with him because now Emmett was repeatedly hitting his head against the table chanting, 'stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid.'

Edward looked over at me and nudged his head at Emmett's banging one, clearly wanting me to say something too. This was where my confrontation anxiety crept up on me again.

"Yeah, Emmett. I mean, if I were you I would be trying to crack my skull on a hard surface too for letting this amazing girl escape…" I guess that wasn't what Edward was looking for because he rested his elbows on the table and face palmed.

"Just …don't give up yet. Hey! You know where she works, right? Why not go back down there and find her?" Edward offered.

Emmett looked up at us, relenting the torture on his head so he could speak, "And look like some creepy stalker? No thanks. I wouldn't even know what floor to start searching on anyway. Believe me, I've considered that idea." He scoffed and then resumed the banging, harder this time.

Edward gave me a 'you-better-say-something-that-will-make-him-feel-better-and-not-something-stupid-again' look, so I placed my hand in between Em's forehead and the table and lifted it so he could look at me.

"It's that type of pessimistic attitude that will leave you sitting at home on a Saturday night, veggin' out on the couch alone. You have got to make things happen for yourself! You find a way to contact this perfect woman, ask her what the hell her name is, and then ask her out to dinner! You are Emmett Dale McCarty, when have you ever given up? Never, that's when!"

I glanced over at Edward for approval on my speech and he hadn't resorted to a face palm again so that was a plus.

Another plus: I had let go of Emmett's head and he hadn't gone back to beating his brains out again.

"You know what? You're right. I'm going to find her and guess what else? When I bring her to meet you guys, I won't even care if you tell that box story, because it's _funny_. _As. Hell_!" he punctuated 'funny,' 'as,' and 'hell' with three hard pokes at my chest before he said goodbye and ran out the door.

_**...zzZzZZ...**_

"Happy Friday to all my listeners out there on this beautiful morning! The forecast calls for sunshine all weekend, so that much needed break from the office won't be weighed down by any unpleasant weather."

I smiled in pure joy as I got ready for the brand new segment for today.

"Since its Friday and all, I thought we'd start a new segment called 'Crazy, but True Stories.' This will be a time where I will tell you about some funny stories listeners send in about the crazy things that happened during their week. I'll be doing this every Friday, so to start it off I have two for you today that involved yours truly."

I went into the whole moving box debacle and still found myself needing to pause at the part where Emmett managed to hit himself in the eye because of my laughter.

_That story will never get old. I'll be telling my grandchildren that one on my deathbed, I swear._

I took a short break and played a couple songs before getting into my second story, which was more annoying – to me, anyway – than it was funny.

"So, I'm browsing the selections at my local video store trying to find a good action movie to watch with my buddies, and I was alone in the aisle until some woman comes and starts searching for a movie in the same section as me, no big deal. But then, I go to grab that thriller/action movie _Face Punch_ and the lady starts trying to take it from me! I was about to calmly try to compromise with her when she starts giving me attitude about how I was apparently stealing this movie from her!"

"We got into this kind of, tug-o-war fight with the DVD case and the owner had to come over to see what the heck is going on in his store. The chick immediately starts sprouting off accusations that I was the one to take the stupid movie from her. Then the owner looks at us like we're children and points out that there are two copies of the movie that can be rented. Now I feel completely embarrassed for getting into it with this random woman in his store, so I silently release the movie – since she still has it in some sort of vice grip – and grabbed the other copy. The girl studies the back cover of the movie and then starts laughing. She then proceeded to tell me that she didn't even want to rent that movie anymore, sets it back on the shelf, and practically skipped away."

I shook my head again in frustration. That woman had seriously pushed my buttons.

"I guess the point I'm trying to make from that story is that all women are crazy and when they want something they'll go to all costs to get it and then once they do have it, there's a chance they'll just throw it away. Kind of like what they do with our hearts, huh? Am I right fellas?" I chuckled at my own lame joke and got ready for the commercials we had lined up to play.

"That's it for 'Crazy, but True Stories' for today. You can submit your own at crazybuttrue(at)kziz(dot)com and I might read it on the show next Friday. I'll be opening up the phone lines after the break for song requests. But now, a word from some of our sponsors."

I flipped on the audio tracks and grabbed a cup of coffee as our listeners were informed of sales going on at the mall this weekend and who to call if you needed your septic tank cleaned.

I opened up the phone lines right before the last commercial ended and we were back on the air, "Welcome back, to those of you just tuning in this is 'All That Jazz' with me, Jazz Whitlock here at KZIZ 98.9 FM radio. I'll be taking some callers now for a few song requests, so here we go."

I pressed down on the first orange blinking light, "Hello! What's your name and what song would you like to hear?"

"Hi, I'm Mary." The woman's voice echoed through the small studio.

"Hey Mary, what song would you like me to play for you this morning?"

"Actually, I was wondering if you could answer a question for me?" she asked in a sweet voice.

"Well, I think I can do that. What was it you're wondering about?"

"How is it that you men can complain all the time about how crazy women are, but when we so much as _start_ to recognize horrible characteristics about your gender, you immediately get defensive and break up with us? _Hmm?"_

_Uh ohhhh…_

"And also, maybe you men have to consider the fact that _you_ are the ones who make us crazy. I'm sure the poor woman you hassled in the video store just thought she was going to pick up the movie and head on with her own business too, but nooooooo, you had to go and make a big deal out of it. You didn't even consider checking to see if there was a second copy to that DVD, did you?" her tone was getting less and less sweet as she went on.

"Yes, that's true, but –"

"But what? You couldn't take five seconds to let her explain to you that maybe she did see the other copy? Because you thought that since you were a man you deserved the stupid action movie more than a woman? Please enlighten me, Mr. Whitlock."

I tried to answer her growing list of questions, but the woman just kept on going.

"And while we're on the subject of crazy, when was it exactly that the female population got pegged with this completely untrue characteristic? We do nothing but try to send subtle signs to you guys to let you know we're interested, which you're all too stupid to comprehend, so we have to go with the more blatant acts of affection. Then you get all scared and run away with your tail between your legs, claiming we're moving too fast and you just want to have fun. Well let me tell you something, _Jazz_, we like to have fun too! But it's too stinkin' hard to have fun when we're too busy worrying about appearances and if he even _likes_ spending time with us or not and when we should initiate a kiss and when we should just back off, because _god forbid_ we move too fast for you!"

_Man, she's like the effing Energizer bunny._

By now, I had given up talking and decided I would just let her rant. She could rant her little heart out, but I wasn't going to make my listeners suffer. I quickly popped in a track and faded out her voice as the first notes began. She didn't even notice, the woman just kept yapping my ear off with her distaste of men.

_Going and going and going and going…_

Carlisle had made his way up to the studio to see what was going on and I waved him off, reassuring that I had everything under control. He gave me the sign that meant I needed to meet him after the show to let him know what happened and I gave a thumbs up just as Mary finished her big speech.

"So what exactly was your question?" I asked calmly.

"Ughh!" she growled and yelled, "Typical male!" into the phone before hanging up on me.

I just rolled my eyes. She basically just made my point for me. Only crazy women would call into a radio show to complain about men. I was just relieved she hung up herself before I had to and risk her calling back even angrier than before.

I hung up and noticed that the phone lines were growing crazy with backed up callers. I quickly set up a couple more songs to play through while I answered what were hopefully just song requests.

…And some were. But only about three callers actually wanted to hear a song. The rest were all angry women who stood behind Mary one hundred percent. I finally got so fed up with being greeted by, 'You know what else is wrong with men?' that I just shut off the phone system altogether until Leah came to take over.

"Not your greatest…" Leah smirked as I past her.

"Yeah, yeah. They're all yours now. Have fun." I snorted and made my way down to Carlisle's office.

When I entered, he was listening to Leah's introduction on his vintage 1935 811 Deco Tombstone, Zenith model radio.

"What can I do for you, boss?" I asked lightly, although I knew exactly what he wanted.

He stared at me for a few moments before rubbing his temples and leaning back in his chair, "What exactly happened up there today?"

"Well, I announced that I was opening up the phone lines for song requests and when I did, this woman named Mary said she had a question instead, so I thought I'd be able to answer a simple question for her. But then she just started in on me about how horrible men were and I tried to cut in and say something but she wouldn't have that. That's when I took her off air, forgot about the requests, and put in some of the latest hits." I shrugged.

"That's all? She had no reasoning for the sudden bash on men?"

"Well, I made a joke a little earlier after the story about the video store lady and how women were crazy…"

I don't know what I had expected Carlisle's reaction to be, but it definitely wasn't him laughing his ass off at me.

"Oh, _Jasper_. Jasper, Jasper, Jasper." He shook his head and laughed some more.

I didn't say anything; I just waited for him to explain to me what was so damn funny.

"You have just learned the hard way to never, _ever_, tell any woman they are crazy. Because they will do exactly what that Mary woman just did. You know why?"

I shook my head at him.

"Because women _are_ crazy. They just won't admit it."

"How did you figure that out?" I asked with honest curiosity. This felt like a complete insider's look at a woman's mind.

"I found out an even harder way. You go tell Esme she's crazy and if you come back to me without so much as one bruise on you, I'll give you five hundred million dollars." He smirked.

"That bad?"

"Believe me, think about if that caller was in the room with you. Do you think she wouldn't try to throw something at you or toss a few punches and slaps around?"

"I wouldn't put it past her …or the video store girl for that matter …"

"Exactly, because women are crazy."

"All of them?"

"Every single one. Crazy as _hell_."

That night I was bombarded with nightmare after nightmare of women, mobs of women, chasing me down. I'd always get to the point where they were just about to do away with me and then snap up ramrod straight in bed.

I'd eventually fall back asleep, but a new nightmare would find me. It was always the same storyline, with women chasing me around, but it varied with the weapons they carried. The first time it was pitchforks and torches, then slingshots with rocks, and the craziest one involved tasers and pepper spray.

_Stupid, insane women trying to murder me in my sleep..._

_

* * *

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**okie-dokie! so i would LOVE to hear your thoughts on this chapter :)**

**.**

**my favorite part:  
****"Exactly, because women are crazy."**

**"All of them?"**

**"Every single one. Crazy as _hell_."**

**.**

**Reviews are better than getting yelled at!  
(especially when reviewers get a tease)**

**Love,  
Emeleigh**


	7. Cootie Queens & Dust Bunnies

**I loved hearing what some of you thought was going to happen down the road in this little fic... very interesting theories ;)**

**All errors are mine. It won't be as pretty as when Sophie edits for me, but she's enjoying her break from school so I can't wait until she's back!**

**And just an extra note: this is probably my favorite chapter of all so far :)**

_Chapter 6 – Cootie Queens & Dust Bunnies  
__**Bella Swan**_

"Burn one loaded wimpy, drag it through the garden, eighty-six the breath, and melt some snow on it! A side of frog sticks, and I'll need a lighthouse to go with that! An Atlanta Special – paint it red – then give me one shake in the hay! I also need two bun pups, Mickey Rooney and stretch 'em! This one's a PITA, so make it snappy!"

I slid the ticket onto the holder in the window so Riley could read over the order again if he needed to. Tonight was beyond busy at the diner, which was to be expected for a Friday and I was already getting exhausted after just having been here an hour so far.

The customers I had just taken an order from were a couple of college guys who were a little too picky for their own good. It took me five trips back and forth to their table for them to finally make a decision on what they wanted to eat.

In 'regular talk', they had ordered one hamburger with veggies on it, minus the onions and added some melted Swiss cheese on the bun. A side of fries with a new bottle of ketchup since theirs apparently wasn't full enough, a cherry coke, a strawberry milkshake, and two large hot dogs with mustard and relish.

Vicki had required all her employees to learn how to speak 'diner lingo' so that way everything went along with the theme. It actually came in handy quite often, because I could call my customers a pain in the ass (PITA) right in front of them and they wouldn't even know it.

I hid back behind the counter while I waited for the two boys' cokes and the milkshake to get finished. Once Riley rang the bell pushed them through the window I went over in the corner where we kept napkins and straws and hocked two huge wads of spit into their drinks.

I heard footsteps behind me, so I quickly stirred my saliva into the beverages so it was now invisible before anyone caught me defiling their drinks.

"You're serving another set of cootie-queens?" A cootie-queen was diner talk for when you spit in a customer's drink. I had actually come up with that name. "What is this, like your third one this week?" …for obvious reasons, I guess.

Alice was waiting for me to answer her question when a male voice rang out. "Hello! How long does it take for a soda and a milkshake?"

I gave Alice a pointed look and she rolled her eyes, "Okay, yeah, they deserve it."

She had been a little sassy today, and I kept forgetting to ask her why. Usually Alice goads me about how unprofessional defiling a customer's food was.

I plastered a fake smile on my face and delivered the drinks, lingering there for a few moments so I could watch the rude customers from hell sip down my germs.

It felt good.

All my other tables were in the middle of their meals and I wouldn't have to check on them for a little bit, so while I waited for my other order to get filled I went over to the jukebox and selected a few songs to play.

I heard Riley ring the bell again, "Order up, Bells!" I headed back over to the window and grabbed the tray.

After being told I had gotten like three things wrong on their order, which I _did not_, and taken them back I ended up sneezing on their fries, licking the burger bun, and coughing on their hot dogs. When I brought the exact same food back – without any changes besides germifying them – they said I had finally gotten everything right.

_Asshole customers._

Thankfully, they didn't stay for dessert.

I was coming out of the kitchen from helping the bus boys bring back dirty dishes when one of my songs finally came on.

_You broke my heart_  
'_Cause I couldn't dance.  
__You didn't even want me around.  
__And now I'm back!  
__To let you know,  
__I can really shake 'em down._

The drumbeats echoed through the diner and Alice hopped up on the counter with the other girls working the back tonight, dancing to the music.

Rosalie came up to me and set her tray down on the nearest table, grabbing my hips to try and get me to dance with her. "Come on, Bella! You love this song!"

I started shaking to the beat and did a few shimmy moves before falling into the choreographed dance with the girls on the counter.

_I can mash potato. (I can mash potato)  
__I can do the twist. (I can do the twist)  
__Now tell me baby, (Tell me baby)  
__Do you like it like this? (Do you like it like this?)_

Right as I started swinging my arms up to do the mash potato move, I felt my left fist collide with something behind me. I spun around to see if what my fist hit was a person, but that only made matters worse.

Turns out, I had punched a guy in the cheek. When I turned around, I ended up getting my legs tangled with his and we tumbled to the ground, me falling on top of the poor man.

No one seemed to have noticed yet, but I could hear the moans and groans of pain coming from the guy I had just attacked.

"Shit! Are you okay? I'm so, so, _sooo sorry_!" I winced, watching as he massaged the side of his jaw.

And what a jaw it was… Man, oh man. Of all the people I could have picked to fall on top of…

Think of the most attractive guy you've ever seen. Now, times that by one billion and twenty three, add in a dash of fuckhot hair, barely there stubble, and hearing him moan.

Yeah.

I was faintly aware that I was still pinning him to the ground, but quickly forgot when he opened his eyes.

They weren't looking at me, but I could still see how inhumanly green they were. I briefly wondered if he wore colored contacts because these things were so green! I tried to think of a better word to describe them as in my head, but those eyes make me stupid, so all I could think of were the words green and eyes.

He finally focused in on me and whatever brain activity I had left was thrown out the window. I may have even started to drool.

"You okay?" I tried again since he didn't answer me the first time. Only this time I used fewer words because it was easier on my brain that way.

He cleared his throat and squeezed his eyes shut again, shaking his head. "Yeah."

I was a little miffed that he only said one word to me, because number one, I actually cared about if I had hurt him badly or not and would like to know, and number two, his voice was just as attractive as he was... getting to just hear that one word was so unfair.

"I am so sorry…" I repeated.

"You said that already." He chuckled and opened his eyes.

"Well I punched you… and then tackled you. You deserve more than one measly apology." That was when I realized I was still in fact, sprawled out on top of this stranger.

"Oh! Sorry!" I said yet again and jumped up.

He smiled when I apologized for the third time and then accepted my outstretched hand to help him up. "Are you two okay?" Rosalie asked once we were both standing again.

"Yeah, I just about sent him to the hospital is all…" I said in a fake, cheery voice. I could feel my face heating up from the recognition that I just mauled a customer… and _liked_ it.

I had to remove my cat-eye glasses because they were starting to fog up.

"Sorry about that, she's not our most graceful waitress." Vicki chimed in from the other side of the bar, smirking. "You sure she didn't bang you up too bad?"

"I'm fine. Just don't tell anybody I got beat up by a girl." He winked and then walked away to rejoin the group he arrived with.

"Well, Bella, I think that makes your top three greatest klutz moments of all time." Vicki laughed. "Or maybe just one of _the_ greatest moment of all time…" She whispered in my ear from behind me with an annoying know-it-all tone to her voice.

I shook my head and took a deep breath, trying to forget about what had just transpired a few seconds ago. I noticed some new customers in my section, so I grabbed my ticket book and made my way over there.

"Hello, and welcome to Vicki's. Can I start you all off with some drinks?" I was passing out the menus, so when I looked up and saw Mr. Green Eyes himself sitting at the table my face got even redder.

Especially when I noticed who he was with.

"Hey! What are you guys doing here? You guys never show up on a Friday night…" I tried to ignore the fact that he was staring at me.

"Well, we thought we'd introduce our new colleague to the best burger joint around." Sam Uley smiled and handed me back his menu since I already knew his usual order.

"So, Eric's already gone and everything?" I asked with only a little disappointment. He was always nice, but heck if I didn't mind this new guy taking his place.

"Yup, his last day was yesterday and he hit the road around noon today, moving truck and all." Angela said with more emotion than I had and handed me back her menu as well.

"That's too bad…" I told them, not really knowing what to say.

"It's all good, we've gained this guy from it." Sam nudged a thumb over in Green Eyes' direction.

"What can I get for you, since these two hang around here so often that they 'don't need' to order." I rolled my eyes and smiled at him.

"Give him the Vicki Burger Combo. You can't try anything else until you've had the Vicki Burger." Angela said before he had a chance to answer.

"The Vicki Burger?" I asked to make sure he really wanted that.

"What would you suggest?" He asked in a low, soft voice.

_Oh man._

I was momentarily made stupid again by the sound of his voice as the words seemed to drip from his lips, but once I swallowed down the drool my glands were over-working to secrete I was able to form a sentence, "It _is_ the best. That's why the owner named it after herself, ya know." I smiled, but really wanted to crawl away at my lame attempt to flirt with him.

"Then the Vicki Burger it is. With everything on it." He smiled, only lifting up the left side of his mouth and passed me his menu.

"Give him a chocolate milkshake too." Sam said before I rushed away.

"I need a crowd of loaded Vicks in the pasture, eighty-six a lone tomato, a crowd of double black cows, two shakes in the dirt, one in the hay and a short stretch of cow paste!" I hollered through the window to Riles.

When the milkshakes were finished I quickly took them over to the table. When I got back Rose was looking at me funny. "What?"

"No reason to turn those into cootie-queens?" She raised an eyebrow at me.

"None I can think of… why?" The only answer I received was a shrug of her shoulders and a glimpse of her smile before she turned around and went back to work.

The rest of the night went down hill from there. After delivering the Vicki Burgers, a whole group of noisy high school kids stopped by. One of the girls working behind the counter got sick and had to leave early, so we were short a hand which meant whenever I got a free moment I was catering to the needs of teenagers.

Then, I spilled a plate of chili-cheese fries when James hit me from behind with the swinging door. I was too busy cleaning up the gooey, sticky mess, so Vicki had to go and take care of the bill for Green Eyes' table for me.

I was more than a little bummed when I didn't get a chance to stare at him from behind the counter once more before they left.

Then, after being in a bad mood from all of that, the high school kids kept getting more and more demanding. I was passing out cootie-queens left and right. It didn't help that they were slobs either. It took both busboys, Rose, Bree (the other waitress working that night), and myself to pick up after just the group of six!

We shooed the last of the customers out around one o'clock that morning and I was so thankful it was finally the weekend. I had no plans but to bum around the apartment and be lazy for two whole days.

I don't even remember how I got to my bedroom, the only thing on my mind was sleep.

That was short lived though.

I peeled off my work uniform and slipped into some comfy sweats before diving under the covers. I waited for the bed to get warm and then lets my eyes droop closed, ready for sleep to take me under.

I was bombarded with mental images of The Contours singing and dancing the mash potato, except they all had a head full of messy, golden-brown hair and piercing green eyes. "Do You Love Me?" was playing in the background. It sounded like the music was coming from right beside me, it had to be real.

_What. The. Fuck?_

My eyes shot back open and the music stopped. I looked around my darkened room, because now I was paranoid that someone was hiding in the corner with a stereo trying to mess with my head.

I carefully crawled over to my nightstand and turned on the light, surveying all four corners for any psycho wielding a CD player. No one was there, but just to make sure, I tiptoed over to my closet and whipped the doors open, "HAH!"

I don't know why I yelled, maybe to try and scare whoever I thought was hiding in there or maybe because it felt a little too quiet. Like in a horror movie right before the brunette gets murdered.

Me being the brunette of course.

I sifted through all my hanging clothes and then tossed all my shoes over my shoulder, but no one was there. No monsters waiting patiently to jump out and gobble me up.

At the thought of monsters I decided it couldn't hurt to check under the bed either. Keeping a safe distance away from it, so that if anything tried to reach out and grab me I'd be too far away to get a hold on, I turned on my cell phone to use as an extra source of light. I pinched the bottom him of the skirt and flung it upwards. I suddenly felt something fuzzy attack my face and started screaming.

"AHHHH! GET IT OFF ME! GET IT OFF!" I screeched and started slapping and clawing at my head.

In the midst of my flailing, my toe got caught on one of the shoes I had thrown off earlier and I came crashing to the ground.

Two pairs of feet came pattering into my room at a fast pace, "What the hell are you doing in here, Bella?" Alice's voice sounded over my cries for help.

"There is a monster! On. My. _Face_!" I shrieked. Could they not see it?

Then a warm hand brushed across my nose and I couldn't feel the fuzzy thing latched onto me anymore. I stayed in a tense position; my eyes squeezed shut, waiting for it to come at me again.

"Bella, open your eyes." Alice giggled.

I slowly peeked one eye open and found Rosalie kneeling in front of me with a dust bunny in the palm of her hand. "Monster, huh?"

I narrowed my eyes at them as they didn't even try to hold in their laughter, "Shutup. I was scared."

"Aww, poor wittle Bewwa. Do woo need me to check your cwoset for monsters twoo?" Rosalie mocked me one of those cutesy voices people use with babies.

"No… I already did." With that, they laughed at me some more before I kicked them out.

I shut the door on their asses and could still hear their cackles ringing out as they went back to their own rooms.

Snuggling back under the covers, I told myself it was all in my head. There was no way that music was actually playing.

I shut the light off and closed my eyes again, wanting so badly to just fall asleep and forget about this whole day. Right as my eyes fell shut the music started up again. Visions of Green Eyes, his smile, and the way he winked at me played behind my eyelids.

I opened my eyes once again and there was no music. All that was there were the dust bunnies and me.

I tried again, falling asleep, but this time when the music blared in my mind I was watching a slow-mo replay of when I punched Green Eyes in the face and fell on top of him. It was like one of those out-of-body experiences.

Things were starting to get slightly weird. And irritating.

Every time my eyes shut, that damn music would start playing and a new image of him would pass through my mind. It was everything from a close-up of his mouth down to the way his foot tapped along with the beat of the song.

And it was driving me _insane_!

Yes, the man was like my own version of a Greek god or the Romeo to my Juliet, but that doesn't mean I want to be kept up the whole night thinking about him! I just want to go to sleep.

…I'm sooo tired!

Eventually I was able to ignore the vocals, but that didn't stop the complete stranger, who I just met tonight, from infiltrating my thoughts.

It would have been nice if I could have just ignored the images as well, but considering how gorgeous this guy is, that's a challenge in and of itself. Not to mention that with every glance I got at the way his lips moved when he talked, the way he laughed, or the crease in his brow when he didn't understand something always led to me wondering about him.

What is he like? Does he have a girlfriend? (Well, probably Bella. You know girls are all over him all the time if he looks like _that_.) Well, maybe it's not too serious then...

I went through the routine of closing my eyes, seeing a part of him, then opening my eyes about a hundred and two times and I was starting to get really cranky. "Okay, this is the last time I'm closing my eyes before the sun comes up. One hundred and third time's a charm…"

I smashed my eyelids together and tried with all my mite to erase the image in my head so I could get some rest, but then something I wasn't expecting happened.

"What would you suggest?" His crisp, smooth voice radiated through my senses.

"Oohkaayy!" I hopped out of bed and high-tailed it to the living room. That was just too freaky; it sounded like he was in the bed with me.

Which wouldn't be too unfortunate…

_No! Stop that! You don't even know this guy and yet you're already fantasizing about him?_

I started pacing in front of the T.V. as I had this mental war going on in my head. This has never happened to me before. Yes, I've seen the goods the male population has to offer, but never in my life have I come across somebody who has me obsessing over them in the middle of the night.

I continued my pacing and talking to myself and eventually worked up and appetite. I must have paced a whole mile; I was even starting to sweat a little. Of course, we had nothing edible in the fridge, I don't know why though. I thought one of us had gone to the grocery store earlier this week…

I grabbed the phone book and started flipping through it in search of any twenty-four hour restaurant that delivered. There had to be something, this was Seattle for goodness sakes.

The first place I found was named _The Wok_, which was an all-night Chinese restaurant. It seemed a little iffy at first, but some kung pao chicken sounded good so I called them.

"Hehroh, this iees The Wok!" A chipper sounding, oriental man answered.

"Uhm, hi. I was wondering if you delivered this late?"

"Deh river?"

"Yeah, I know its pretty late, but-"

"Which river?"

"No, _de-liv-er_."

"Yes! Yes, yes! We have much food! We bring it ova!"

"So you can bring the food to my apartment?"

"On deh river?"

"No!" Clearly, I was not cut out to communicate with foreigners. I was already cranky and now starving, so instead of trying to come to an understanding with this man, I just hung up.

I scanned the yellow and white pages again and came across a pizza joint that seemed promising. "This is Pizza Pal, open all night every night. What'll it be tonight?"

At least this guy didn't have an accent… "Hi. You guys deliver, right?"

"Sure do."

"Okay, I'll have one small pizza with everything you got on it, except for anchovies and olives."

"Alright, and where am I sending this pizza?"

"3800 First Avenue, apartment 3G."

"We'll have it there in about twenty to twenty-five minutes and your total will be twelve dollars and thirty nine cents."

I hung up the phone and went back to pacing while I waited. The delivery guy arrived at around 3:21 A.M. and I gave him a generous tip for having such a sucky job. I didn't tell him that was why though.

After devouring the entire thing, I disposed of the evidence in the trash chute so Alice and Rose wouldn't get on me about not saving them any. When I reentered the apartment, I decided to test a theory I had been working out in my head while I was eating.

I figured it might work if I changed my surroundings and tried to sleep on the couch. Maybe the reason I was having all those flashes of Green Eyes was because my uniform from tonight was laying on the chair by my bed. And since that's what I wore when I was near him, it caused me to think about him… subconsciously... maybe...

Well it made since in my head and that's really all that matters.

I grabbed the blanket off the back of the couch and settled in. It wasn't nearly as comfortable as my bed, but if it gave me some peace and quiet, I was all for camping out in the living room.

"Please let me get some sleep." I silently prayed to the beautiful man that was torturing me somewhere out there tonight.

I took one long breath and let my eyelids fall.

…And nothing.

Nothing!

I did a little happy jiggle from my position on the couch and burrowed in closer to the cushions for comfort.

_Do you loooveee me? (I can really move!)  
__Do you loooveee me? (I'm in the groove!)  
__Do you loooveee me? (Do you love me?)  
__Nooowwwww that IIII can daaaannnceee…  
__Daaaannnceee…  
__Daaaannnceee…_

_Watch me now!_

"Are you kidding me?" I groaned and rolled over, smothering my face in the fabric underneath me.

_**...zzZzZZ...**_

The next morning after not getting so much as a wink of sleep, I decided to start up the coffee pot around five. Lord knows, I'll needed the caffeine. Snow White and Sleeping Beauty didn't roll out of bed until ten o'clock.

Lucky bitches.

"Good morning!" a perky Alice skipped into the kitchen and placed a kiss on my cheek.

"Ungh." I grunted in response.

"Oh, geez. You look like hell."

"Oh, why thank you. I fucking love you too." I smiled tightly at her.

"_Me-OW_! Someone's cranky…"

"Who is?" Rosalie sauntered in with a pleasant smile on her face. I wanted to smack it off.

"Bella."

Rose looked over at me and her eyes got a little wider at the sight, but that stupid grin was still there. "Holy hell, Bells. Did you sleep at all last night? I can see circles under your eyes."

"If ten second intervals throughout the night count, then yes. I slept great." I grumbled and gulped down the last bit of my fourth cup of coffee.

"And if either of you even so much as think about being all happy and well-rested near, beside, or _anywhere_ close to me, I will not hesitate to shank you." I warned them, but was only met by laughter directed at me.

I flipped them the bird before retreating back to my room. You see, I had come up with a new theory while sipping my coffee. Maybe since it was nighttime when I met Green Eyes, I wouldn't think about him during the day…

Let's hope.

* * *

**Reviews are better than diner lingo.  
(especially when reviewers get a tease)**

**I hope you guys know how much you make me smile with each of your reviews... just sayin' :)**

**.**

**Favorite: This was a hard one because I liked so much of this chapter... but I think the phone call with the chinese restaurant was my fave.**

**.**

**Love,  
Emeleigh**

**P.S. Be sure to check my profile for character pics I've made with their most memorable quote from when they couldn't sleep :)  
(that sentence made sense, right?)**


	8. Elevators & Cookies

**_Mystyic:_ I understand what you mean, the chapters feeling choppy, but that is actually how I intended it. You're reading the story through the character's POVs and they're lives are choppy and frustrating right now. Not to mention that most of them don't know each other yet and I have been purposefully been leaving out details in each chapter to add a little mystery to who is who in the story. Yes, each chapter only focuses on one couple because that's all that that character knows about. None of the girls/boys know much about each other's 'love interest' and vice versa. I hope that has cleared things up for you a little :)**

**Sophie's back! Yay, yay, yay, yay! That means this chapter is virtually error-free! I love my Soph :)**

_Chapter 7 – Elevators & Cookies _  
**_Emmett McCarty_**

_Think, Emmett, think! What do you know about the hot blonde?_

One: She has blonde hair. Two: She isn't very observant. Three: She likes make-up. Four: She smells like sugar cookies. Five: She works at Volterra Magazine…

_Bingo!_

I had finally had the time to sit down and figure all this out. When Jazz gave me that pep talk about how I didn't back down from anything, he was right. Especially when it involved a certain girl who's been running through my mind since Thursday morning.

She must be getting tired…

Okay, enough with the lame pick up lines. Save it for when you see her again.

I hadn't had time to try and start finding her because I was pleasantly distracted by Jasper's radio show yesterday. I mean, what kind of an idiot tells a city full of women their crazy on live air?

A moron like Jasper, that's who.

But today, I was on a mission. I remembered that girl that came and interviewed about Ma and Pop's new restaurant worked at the same magazine, so all I had to do was get her number and then bam! I'm back in the game with Blondie.

And if that didn't work, I knew Jasper's boss' wife was the editor in chief there, so I could just hit Esme up on finding her. There was no way I could lose.

I called my Ma's house and was greeted by one of my lovely sisters. "Hey, Emmett!"

"Hi Emmorie, Ma or Pop home?"

"Um, I'm not sure. Let me go ask Emma…" I could hear shuffling in the background as my youngest sister moved through the house. "_EMMA! PHONEE!_" she yelled through the house.

"Yeah?"

"Emma? Ma or Pop home?"

"I think so, hold on a second. I'll ask Elizabeth…" more shuffling… "_LIZZIE! PICK UP THE PHONE!_"

"Hello?" I could hear Liz's kids chattering in the background as she got onto them. "_No! Johnny, put that down! Alexis, don't make me put you in time out! Shh! Mommy's on the phone._"

"Hey, Liz. Do you know where Ma or Pop is?" I was getting tired of this game of pass the phone. This is why I never call home. It takes too long.

"Uhh… I think Pop's in the kitchen with Ella and Elise. Hold on…"

"_ELLA! ELISE! EMMETT NEEDS TO TALK TO ONE OF YOU!_"

"No! I need to talk to Pop!" I tried to correct her quickly before getting passed to yet another sibling.

"Oh… _NEVERMIND! POP! PHONE'S FOR YOU!_"

"Hello?"

"Pop! Hey… I have a question."

"Hit me with it." My dad said happily into the receiver. _He's such a pleasant old man…_

"You remember the magazine lady?"

"Isabella!" He boomed in recognition.

"Yeah, that one! I need her number; do you still have that business card she gave you?"

"Ahhh, you have an interest in her, huh? I thought I saw something there…" He said in a sing-songy voice.

"No! I have an interest in one of her co-workers, now the number?" I said in a rush. It wasn't like I had any time to waste here.

"Uhh.. Your Ma put it in a safe place. She really liked her you know. You sure you're not interested in that one?"

"Yes, I just need the number._ Please_." I had resorted to begging now.

"Give me a minute… _MAMI! YOUR SON IS ON THE PHONE!_" more shuffling…

"Emmie! What can I do for my baby? Hm?" It was then that I started wondering why my family acts so surprised when I called. It's not like I never see them; we work together for frick's sake…

"I need Isabella's phone number. Remember, the girl from Volterra Magazine?"

"Ooh, yes! The _very beautiful_ girl."

"Ma, don't get any ideas, kay? I just need to speak with her about… um… business."

"Mmhmm… okay then…" she said in that 'I-hear-you-but-I-don't-believe-you' voice.

I was finally given the number, but it took another thirty minutes to get off the phone with Ma. She kept very un-subtly slipping me hints that I should act on Isabella in the form of telling me what all was new with my sisters and their kids, marriages, and engagements.

I tried her office phone first out of courtesy, but wasn't surprised when she didn't answer on a Saturday. Then I tried her cell phone and got an answer on the third ring.

"Hello?" she yawned and sounded like she just woke up.

"Sorry! Were you asleep?"

She chuckled, which I didn't understand and just shrugged off. "No, I was definitely _not_ asleep. Who is this?"

"Oh! This is Emmett McCarty, from _Santoreggia_…"

"Right, right! Is everything okay? Did you want me to change something about the interview?"

"No, this actually isn't about the restaurant at all."

"Okay… shoot."

"This is going to sound totally crazy, but is there any way you can get me a list of all the blonde women that work in your office?"

"A list… of all blonde- Are you serious?" She asked with a laugh.

"Yes, I promise I'm not a serial killer that targets blondes or anything like that… I just- I need to find someone."

"Alright, well I barely know anyone who works there… but I can try and talk to Human Resources for you? Maybe see if they can put together a list. But I'm not making any promises. This is pretty bizarre, and I doubt they have employees categorized by hair color in the computer system…"

"Oh! Another thing, if it helps I know that the girl likes make-up." I offered.

"No, that really doesn't help." She chuckled, "You do realize this is a magazine company? More than likely all of the women that work there like make-up."

"Oh, right. Thanks for your help, though! Any idea when I'll hear from you by?"

"I'll call you by the end of the week to let you know if I have anything for you."

"Sounds good. Thanks Isabella."

"Just Bella, please."

"Thank you, Bella. And my parents were wondering if you were able to make it to our grand opening in two weeks?"

"Yes, I will definitely be there. And I'm bringing along two friends… Hey! One of them is blonde, maybe that's who you're looking for." She joked.

"Yeah, what are the odds of that happening." I scoffed and said good-bye before hanging up.

_**...zzZZzZ...**_

I spent the weekend doing everything I could to keep busy. It didn't help that whenever I asked one of my so-called "friends" if they wanted to go do something they blew me off. Jasper was being all thoughtful, going on and on about how all women were crazy and repeatedly asked me throughout Saturday and Sunday if I was aware of that.

Edward was off on a whole different planet. When I knocked on his door, he greeted me and said hi to me and stuff, but I could tell he wasn't all there. His face was scrunched up in this weird over-analyzing kind of way and when we were watching some T.V. show where two of the main characters flopped over a chair and on top of one another on the floor, he let out some weird snort-cough-laugh.

But, I guess I wasn't any better. My phone was attached to my palm, just waiting for that call from Bella letting me know she found my woman. I even started to answer the phone as if it were a call when a text came in.

When my alarm went off Monday morning, I eagerly jumped out of bed and got ready for the day. I had made arrangements with Esme, through Jasper, for me to stop by and see her today. It was disguised as a check-up just to see how the article was going, but my ulterior motive was to scope out the office for any leggy blondes that resembled the girl from last Thursday.

I hopped in my car and went twenty miles over the speed limit the whole way there because I was so excited.

The elevator up to Esme's floor seemed to take a whole day. When the doors finally pinged open, I walked as slow as possible towards her office. I proabably looked like a total creep peering into all the cubicles and hallways as I made my way to the back.

Esme greeted me with a warm smile and unsurprisingly Bella was there to meet with me as well.

We went through all the business things we needed to go through, having me read over the article, check the pictures taken of the restaurant, yada, yada, yada… What I was really waiting for was the moment Esme dismissed Bella and I. We walked out together and when the office door closed behind us, I asked the question that had been nagging at me the entire meeting.

"Did you find anything?"

"No, I checked with personnel when I heard you were coming in today and they laughed in my face when I asked for all blonde women working at the magazine. I'm sorry Mr. McCarty…" she seemed to actually feel bad for not being able to help me out.

I didn't say anything, just nodded my head. I wasn't going to hide the fact that I was devastated beyond belief that I had basically failed in finding her.

"If it makes you feel any better, I know exactly what you're going through…" she offered timidly.

"It doesn't, but thanks for trying." I chuckled and stepped inside the elevator. "The article is great by the way. I know my folks are going to be really impressed." That seemed to make her day and it was least I could offer after what she'd done for me. Besides, it was true.

I pressed the button to bring me down to the lobby and right as the doors began to close I saw her.

Like, in the flesh, looking even more amazing than I remembered as she laughed at something the person she was talking to said. The doors shut, blocking my view and more importantly taking me farther away from the girl I'd been freaking out about all weekend.

"Shit, no! Up! I want back up!" I yelled at the circular buttons on the wall. They didn't listen.

I reached the lobby and started furiously punching the 'Close Doors' button. I might have even broken it, but it eventually did what I wanted it to do and I was climbing my way back up to the floor I was just on.

The ping signaled my arrival and I burst through the crack in the doors just as it was large enough for me to slip past. My head whipped into the direction I had seen Blondie last, but she wasn't there anymore.

_Damn it!_

I started to wander around the little hallways, just looking for anything that looked like her. I ran into Esme after about five minutes.

"Oh! Emmett, was there something else you wanted to go over about the article?"

"No…" I peeked over her head, no Blondie in sight. "No, I just thought I left my… uh…" I stealthily tossed a folded up piece of paper that was in my pocket onto the ground, "…this! I knew it was here somewhere…"

"Uh huh…" She eyed me curiously. "Well, then since you found your piece of paper, I guess the next time we'll be seeing each other will be at the grand opening, right?"

"Yes, we're all very excited. See you then!" I called over my shoulder as I rushed my butt away from her accusing eyes. She knew I was up to something and it didn't seem like a good idea to stay any longer.

Blondie, I'll be back for you.

_**...zzZZzZ...**_

"Stupid, moving, slow elevator!" I was still frustrated with my horrible luck, as I got ready for bed that night. I was so close to finding her again and then 'poof', the elevator doors closed and it's like she vanished into thin air.

I tore the covers back and climbed in my bed, trying to come up with a new plan to get into the Volterra offices again.

By time I had come up with an elaborate strategy of repelling down ropes from the panels in the ceiling, it was 1 A.M. and the plan clearly sucked, so I rolled over onto my side and tried falling asleep.

'Tried' being the key word.

I tossed and turned and wiggled around on the mattress to the point where my sheets were slowly getting torn off the corners and my comforter was halfway to the floor. I just couldn't get comfortable.

After another several minutes of thrashing around I'm sure Jasper was getting a little freaked out by the squeaking coming from the springs…

I huffed and sat up in bed, grabbing my phone off the nightstand, and called the one person I knew would have an answer to my problems.

"Who is this? People are trying to sleep in this house!" Pop croaked angrily.

"It's just me, calm down. I need to speak to Ma." I knew she'd be awake. My Ma was always a night owl instead of an early bird. When I still lived at home I'd usually end up falling asleep to hearing her watch COPS or one of those 'Who's my Baby Daddy?' shows.

"Mami… phone." I heard my pop grunt and pass me over to her.

"Yes?"

"Mommy, I can't sleep." I said in a very pathetic tone; being the baby has its effects.

"Aw, honey…" she silently chuckled, "What can I do about that?"

"Tell me how to fall asleep."

"Tell me how to fall asleep, what?"

"Please, Ma. Tell me how to fall asleep, _please_."

"That's better. Now, I want you to go warm yourself up a nice cup of milk, eat a cookie, then lay down and close your eyes. Try not to think about anything; just clear your mind and before you know it you'll be sound asleep."

"That'll really work?"

"Yes, honey. Now I gotta go, we're keeping your father awake."

I said goodnight and hung up, then made my way to the kitchen to follow her directions. As I heated up my milk in the microwave, I started searching for some oatmeal cookies or Oreos and didn't find a single box.

_Am I in the wrong apartment?_

I figured Edward would have some so I went across the hall and let myself in with the key he had given Jasper and I for emergencies. I figured this was okay because for one, I was being courteous for not banging on his door and waking him up at 1:00 in the morning and two, lack of any type of food is an emergency in my book.

I was rummaging through his cabinets and pantry and made a mental note to tell Jazz we would start eating here more often; he had some good shit stocked up in here.

I grabbed a box of Nilla wafers, as well as an apple, gummy bears, and a few pudding cups. _He probably wouldn't miss this stuff…_

Just as I was about to slip away unnoticed, Edward jumped out from the darkened hallway that led to his bedroom wielding some thick paperback book or manual.

"Oh Jesus!" I jumped and yelled out. "Dude! What were you planning on doing? Paper-cutting your intruder to death?" I asked with a snort and ate a chunk out of my apple.

"Why are you here? In my apartment. At one in the _freaking_ morning." He had lowered his 'weapon' and threw on the coffee table in front of him.

"I couldn't sleep, so my Ma said I needed a glass of milk and a cookie. Jazz and I don't have any cookies and I thought you would. And hey, I was right!" I smiled and shoved few wafers in my mouth.

He opened his mouth and closed it back several times like he wanted to say something, but it just wouldn't come out. Eventually he just shook his head and waved me off, "Goodnight Emmett." And walked back into his room.

I took that as an invitation to come back anytime I liked in the middle of the night when I needed a snack, and went back to my apartment. I took the milk, cookies, gummy bears, and the two pudding cups I had left back to my room.

I settled into my bed and switched between eating the bears and pudding until I realized I could put the gummy bears into the pudding and be able to get back to sleep faster. After polishing of those, I moved to the milk and cookies. It definitely hit the spot after all that sweet stuff, Ma knew what she was talking about.

I set aside all the dishes and trash to take back to the kitchen tomorrow and attempted sleep once again.

It wasn't happening for me. Apparently there was a reason Ma didn't mention it was okay to add gummy bears and pudding to the mix. I was feeling a little jittery and hyped up from all the sugar running through my veins and couldn't lie still any longer.

I moved to sit on the side of my bed and started tapping a beat on the floor with my feet. It seemed that I wasn't going to calm down enough to sleep anytime soon, so I just decided to pull an all-nighter. I did it all the time in college, so no biggie.

The only problem was that in college I stayed up all night to finish papers… it was a little different when I had absolutely nothing to occupy my time with.

I grabbed my laptop and Googled, 'things to do when you're bored.' It was all crap. All anybody ever suggested was reading or watching a movie or cleaning…_ lame_.

Suddenly a thought entered my head; why was I searching for useless ways to entertain myself when I could be using the World Wide Web to locate Blondie?

Of course! Why hadn't I thought of this earlier? This is just like that investigative show where that dad found his long lost daughter on a social networking site. Only Blondie isn't my daughter… which is a good thing.

I quickly typed 'hot blondes in Seattle' into the search bar. I didn't really get the results I was hoping for, but if I needed someone to keep me company anytime soon… let's just say I knew where to go for that.

Next I typed in 'Volterra Magazine' and found a direct link to the magazine's personal website.

_Score! Insert fist pump here._

Although when I was looking over the front page, I realized this might take some time. All the website talked about was articles in their magazine, makeup, hair, clothes…

_Hey! There's something about the restaurant… No! Forget about that, you're getting off topic Emmett. Focus on the girl, you need to find out who the girl is._

Right.

I searched over the website, top to bottom, page by page, and all the little things in between. There were no hints or clues whatsoever to cracking the mystery that is Blondie.

I did, however, learn that a bikini with ruffles would accentuate my flatter-chested figure and a hunter green eye shadow would illuminate my irises… so really nothing that could potentially help me at all.

As I was skimming over the website once more just to make sure I hadn't missed anything, I came across a small article about their new employees hired in the spring. I recognized Bella's name, but there were three other girls mentioned in the writing; Alice Brandon, Tanya Denali, and Rosalie Hale.

I snorted at the last one. Who names their child Rosalie? Did they think they were giving birth to an eighty-five year old woman? And Tanya Denali sounded like some showgirl name; you know, like the girls who cake a bucket full of make-up on their face and then go dance in a kick-line.

Alice, though, struck me as a name that might fit Blondie. Alice from Wonderland was blonde, right? And plus, it said that Alice Brandon wrote for the fashion section of the magazine; I'm pretty sure anyone who likes fashion likes make-up.

I'll have to remember to ask Bella about her when I see her again. But… maybe I don't even have to wait.

I quickly brought up the website for Facespace and logged onto my account, then typed in 'Alice Brandon' into the search bar. A few results showed up, so then I narrowed things down and added 'Seattle'.

**One result(s) found.**

I scrolled down and frowned at what I saw. There were three girls in the photo, all crammed into the shot. One with black hair cropped super short was smiling cheekily into the lens and looked like she was sitting on top of the other two girls, sinking into the couch they were on, who looked like they were laughing with beet red faces and huge grins. I got a little bit excited when I noticed one of them seemed to have light colored hair, so I clicked the link to check out Alice's profile.

**User has a private profile.**  
**Add Alice Brandon as a friend to view more!**

Damnit! I was getting so close too!

I found myself back at square one, moping because Blondie was out there somewhere. So, I did the only thing that would make me feel better. I cooked.

Well, I did more than cook. I cooked, baked, broiled, boiled, sautéed, even microwaving a whole butt-load of food.

Well, not a butt-load… that's doesn't make the food sound very appetizing… but it looked like enough to feed a family of eight.

…Or Edward, Jasper, and I for a couple of days.

There were a dozen cream-filled cupcakes, hand frosted and dipped in sprinkles, some spaghetti with Papa McCarty's secret sauce, a four-cheese lasagna, and some chili-cheese fries, the chili I made from scratch and the fries were the frozen kind you just pop in the oven.

It's amazing that Jazz and I had all the ingredients for this stuff when we didn't even have a simple box of cookies…

I had been slaving in the kitchen for over three and a half hours, just finishing up the fries when I heard Jasper's alarm go off. That meant it was five in the morning and I still had three more hours to kill before the time I usually start my day.

He came stumbling out of his room, crashing into the doorframe as he tried to enter the kitchen; Jasper is not the most graceful person in the mornings.

"Dudeeee…?" His voice was deep and stuffed up, having just woken and his eyes squinted against the brighter lights.

"Cupcake?" I offered as I sat down and started digging into my freshly made feast.

"For breakfast?" He rubbed his head and slumped over to the coffee pot.

"What? You're mommy's not here, Jasper. It's okay to have dessert for breakfast, I won't tell on you." I teased and he was obviously not awake enough to appreciate the humor, because he turned and chucked the cooking oil at me.

"Wha-? Wher-? How? _Why_ is there so much food?" I watched as his eyes got wide when he realized all the things I got accomplished during the night.

"I couldn't sleep, so I ate the night away." I grinned.

Jazz gulped down his coffee as he eyed the countertop covered with my evidence of my cooking frenzy. "So… you think you could box up a few of those cupcakes for me to take to work?"

I smirked. I knew he couldn't say no to sugar for breakfast. "Sure thing."

I put six of the cupcakes some Tupperware bowl-thing for him and Edward and he eyed them hungrily as he exited the apartment to head over to the station.

Once again, I had nothing to do with the two hours and forty-five minutes before meeting Ma and Pop over at the restaurant.

I wandered back over to the computer and popped up Alice Brandon's Facespace page again, studying the picture of the three girls. Yeah, I felt like some dirty lurker scrutinizing over some random girl's profile, but something about it made me wonder…

Could that really be her? It might be her… I mean, it's possible; this Brandon chick is employed at the same magazine and they could have become friends from working together, explaining the reason why Blondie is in this picture with her.

Then, I saw it.

My mind flashed back to that afternoon with Blondie. I remembered how close she was when I yanked her back onto the sidewalk. I remembered her face being inches from mine, how I could see every little detail of her pretty face. She had these dark, denim colored eyes, a nose that sloped straight down between them, her top lip slightly thinner than her bottom lip, and that freckle.

That freckle that rested down and a little to the right of her nose; it had actually made me think of Marilyn Monroe for moment before I realized how much more gorgeous Blondie was.

To anyone else, that freckle would mean slim to none. Why should it? It's just a freckle. But to me, it meant everything, because the light-haired girl in that picture, completely laughing her ass off, had the exact same mark in the exact same place and I knew it was her.

I had done it. I found her.

I hastily requested to be Alice's friend and sat back. Now, all I had to do was wait for Miss Brandon to accept my request and it would be smooth sailing from there.

Blondie, you're gonna be mine.

* * *

**Reviews are better than Facespace!  
(especially when reviewers get a tease)**

**My favorite part? Passing the phone to each member of the family before Emmett actually got to talk to his dad. It happens in my house all the time!**

**Love,  
Emeleigh**


	9. Emails & Cleaning

**Errors are all mine!  
You ready for some Alice? :)**

_Chapter 8 – E-mails & Cleaning _  
_**Alice Brandon**_

_Mmm! Sweet salvation…_

I've thought about writing a letter to the makers of Mountain Dew, or at least a thank you note. They deserve it. I wish I knew who invented this drink, because I would so give them a hug everyday if I knew who they were.

I wonder if I sent them enough letters telling them how much I love their product they'd send me a free lifetime supply of Mountain Dew? That would be the best.

I swallowed down the last little bit of soda out of my bottle and threw it away, then ever so sneakily grabbed another from my secret stash in the middle, left drawer of my desk. I usually do try to limit myself to just one a day, but sometimes its too hard. It's like I crave the caffeine in my bones.

See, beach is to ocean as this carbonated, lemon-lime, sugary goodness is to Alice. They just _have_ to go together. You wouldn't go to a beach that didn't have an ocean to swim in, right? The same goes for me, you wouldn't want to be around me if I had a zero sugar/caffeine intake.

I typed away at my computer, writing up a rough draft for an upcoming project about flattering comfy clothes (aka sweat pants), and downing the rest of my second soda. I took a break to rest my fingers and bopped my head along to the song playing on the radio station I was listening to.

"_Welcome back, if you're just tuning in this is your host, Jazz Whitlock on 'All that Jazz' KZIZ 98.9 FM._" The DJ's voice announced after the song was over.

I rolled my eyes at him. 'Jazz' was a complete marshmallow if you asked me.

First of all, what kind of a name is Jazz? It's not one. Secondly, who goes on air and completely disses a whole city full of women? Oh right, Jazz does. And third, would it kill the guy to use his brain cells once in a while? Probably.

It's a shame though, because I really did used to like his show. I even helped Jessica win that free meal the other day with my brain bender expertise. Then, he had to go and insult some poor, innocent woman he ran into at the movie rental store and I couldn't just stand by and listen to that.

That's right, I called in.

This is Mary at your service.

Okay, so it might have been just a teeny bit cowardly to use a name I don't go by everyday, but I didn't want people knowing that was actually me, griping at a complete stranger via radio.

But my birth certificate clearly states my first name as Mary, so technically it's not like I lied.

(Long story short, Dad wanted to name me after Great Grandma Mary, Mom didn't want me growing up to be a nun, they compromised. My real name is Mary, but I go by Alice.)

(Thank goodness for Mom.)

Looking back on it now, it does seem like I overreacted a tad, but its something I feel strongly about. Men expect way too much from us and when we're not perfect, _bam_; you automatically turn into the psycho ex-girlfriend.

Been there, done that, don't wanna go back.

So I was speaking – or yelling – on behalf of all women out there who were labeled insane for no apparent reason.

And the jerk didn't even listen to me!

Typical male.

I feel sorry for the chick that ends up with him…

I told myself I was never going to listen to his morning show ever again. That was, until I couldn't find any other station with good music. So I had to settle for grumbling insults and flipping him off at my radio every now and then when Jazz came on in between songs.

A few of the people that walk passed my cubicle have started giving me funny looks though, so I might have to stop that…

I went back to work and after a paragraph about yoga pants versus jersey knit pants, I had to take another break. There is only so much you can say about clothes you wear when you're feeling lazy.

My favorite DJ was discussing his _oh-so-important _weekend this fine Tuesday morning, so to keep myself in a decent mood I decided it was best to shut him off. Then I popped open a new window on my computer and logged onto Facespace to do a little stalking and waste some time.

I checked over status updates first, everyone was either cursing Tuesday being just as bad as Monday, wishing for a few more hours of sleep, or working.

Then I headed over to my virtual farm and harvested a few of my crops, after that I made sure to write on the wall of all my friends with birthdays today.

When I clicked back to my homepage, I noticed a highlighted box with '1 new friend request!' in it. I clicked on it and was shown a small thumbnail image of some big guy cheesin' at the camera with one of those tall, white chef hats and a messy apron on.

**Emmett McCarty would like to be your friend! Do you know Emmett McCarty?**

"No, I do not." I said to myself and pressed the 'reject' button. It was really too bad, Emmett looked like he was cute and I might have said yes if I knew if he wasn't some pervy lurker…

I glanced down to the clock at the bottom of my screen and groaned. It was only nine o' clock. This day was going by terribly slow, not to mention the girls and I had our last night working at the diner and Vicki purposefully scheduled us during the long shift.

Being as distracted as I was, no work would be getting done so I compromised with myself that I would allow a half hour break before diving back into my article. Then hopefully my lunch break would follow soon after.

I was starting to feel the effects of that extra Mountain Dew flowing through my veins and I could no longer sit still. My right leg started bouncing up and down rapidly and without even bothering to try and stop it, I hopped out of my swivel chair and out of my confined work space.

The open hallway was deserted because, I'm sure, most everyone was actually trying to accomplish something productive with his or her day, unlike me. I went over and peeked into Bella's cubicle where I found her absentmindedly twirling a strand of her hair in her fingers while she hummed some oldies song. Then she abruptly stopped humming and lightly smacked her forehead a few times mumbling, 'get out of my head' under her breath.

I stifled my giggle, deciding it was probably best not to bother her and went to spy on Rosalie.

Rose wasn't doing work either, which made me feel better about my lack of concentration today. She was on Videotube, watching some clip of a woman almost getting run over by a van. After it was over, Rose shook her head and clicked on another one. Only this time, it was a different lady almost getting run over by a cab. I may need to confront her about why she's so interested in near death experiences later…

With both of my friends preoccupied in their own little worlds, I went back to my computer and figured I'd do a little research of my own on a certain disc jockey. Hopefully, I could scrounge up something good enough to call in and embarrass him over the air with tomorrow morning.

First, I paid a visit to the station's website. What I saw when the homepage opened up made my eyes almost fall right out of the holes in my head.

How was I not aware that my boss' husband owned 98.9 FM?

I knew he was a successful business guy, not to mention a complete babe, but if I had known he was the head honcho over there, I might've thought twice about bashing that Jazz dude.

Oh well, at least I was enough of a wimp to use a 'fake' name.

After that bit of shock wore off, I continued on to the _All That Jazz_ section where I found a description of the show, galleries with pictures of Jazz at various radio events that I had no desire to look at and… bingo, his e-mail address.

I forgot all about my initial intentions to try and humiliate this guy, and chose to continue voicing my opinions to him by sending him a message since he pissed me off too much to let me finish over the phone.

Although, I couldn't use my regular e-mail address so I quickly made a new one so my real identity could still be kept a secret.

…

To: DJjazz(at)kziz. com

From: mary_0793(at)mail. com

Subject: Remember me? :)

Hi. I'm sure you recall last Friday morning when you so rudely offended all of your listeners who are apparently 'crazy'. Well it's me, Mary, the one who called in and called _you_ out on it.

I was not finished speaking with you, but you clearly made me even more mad than I was to begin with that I just hung up. So, since I was not able to voice my whole opinion, I am going to do that now.

You should know that I did not appreciate how you insulted that woman from the video store without even knowing her side of the story. I also did not like how you assumed our whole gender to be that way. Granted she could have been crazy, but that doesn't mean the rest of us are. Just because one woman you met _once_ was acting a little strange doesn't mean we all are! Seriously, how do you expect yourself to find a girlfriend when you immediately think she's crazy because, _oh no_, you had one single run-in with a complete stranger that turned out weird.

See, that's the problem with your kind. You judge. Men judge. And you are living proof of that. And you know what? When you meet every single female occupant on this Earth, _then_ you can go on your little radio show and tell Seattle whether our gender is crazy or not.

Without Love,  
Mary

P.S. I expect a public apology. Soon.

…

_…And send._

Okay, that only took up ten minutes of my time. Great.

"Alice, I am completely distrac- hey, what's that?" Bella asked from behind my shoulder.

"Just a letter I'm sending to a guy who deserves to be chewed out." I shrugged.

"Who?"

"Jazz Whitlock." I told her his name like it had cooties or something.

"From Carlisle's radio station?"

"You knew Carlisle was in charge at KZIZ?"

"Well, yeah!" She said like it was the most obvious thing ever.

"Oh, I didn't until… fifteen minutes ago. Don't tell Esme I'm hatin' on his morning show guy."

"Why are you 'hatin'' on him exactly?"

"Because he's a stupid, judgmental guy who thinks we're all crazy." I huffed. I really needed to get over this; I don't know why I'm still so miffed over the whole thing.

"Oh yeah, I heard that. Wasn't that when that angry lady called in and…" she trailed off and looked at me thoughtfully as I'm sure my face gave everything away.

"You! _MARY_ Alice!" She covered her mouth to try and muffle her laughter. "I can't believe that was you! Oh my god!"

_…**zzZzZZ…**_

Once I eventually got back to work it wasn't long until my speakers pinged at me, signaling I had just received a new message in my inbox.

It was from Jazz.

…

To: mary_0793(at)mail. com

From: DJjazz(at)kziz. com

Subject: Re: Remember me? :)

Okay, lady, this has to stop. I get that I said some things you didn't like, and I am sorry, but that isn't going to change my opinion on women yet. Especially when _you_ are acting as the female population's representative. I don't know who voted you into this position, but its not boding well for the rest of the group.

-Jazz Whitlock  
KZIZ 98.9 FM

P.S. I will not apologize during my morning show. I did in this e-mail (see second sentence). That should be good enough.

…

This guy just knows all the right things to say, doesn't he?

I was too frustrated to even try and write back, and it's not like my incessant bickering would change his mind anyway. I'd just have to continue to hate him from afar.

_…**zzZzZZ…**_

"Hi, welcome to Vicki's. My name is Alice and I will be your go-to girl for tonight. Can I start you fellas off with something to drink?" I smiled and laid the charm on thick. This was the last night I'd ever have to act all flirty for a good tip and I wanted to go out with a bang.

Plus, Rose bet me she'd make the most tonight and I didn't like to lose.

I wrote down the customers' orders and gave them a cute little wink before heading back to the kitchen.

Vicki was back behind the counter, trying her best not to look all depressed and gloomy. She was really taking our last day hard.

Every time either of us three tried to go over and talk to her, cheer her up a bit, she'd run away rambling about being so busy tonight.

Which we weren't.

I balanced the round tray of drinks on my right hand and sauntered back over to the table of guys, mentally reminding myself to try and corner Vicki the next time I was free.

"Alright fellas, I've got one hot blonde in the sand," I slid a mug of coffee with cream and sugar over to the boy with light brown-ish hair, "an Atlanta Special," passing a Coke to the blonde guy, "and another Atlanta, painted red." Giving the dark brunette guy his Cherry Coke.

"So, do we know what we want yet?" I asked, all chipper-y and like it was my absolute joy in life to serve them.

"Yeah, you…" The blonde guy mumbled under his breath, probably thinking only his buddies heard him.

What a lame line.

My left hand involuntarily twitched, getting ready to slap him or something, but then I remembered the bet. "Oh, stop! I'm not on the menu, silly." I playfully (okay, maybe a little harder than 'playfully') shoved his shoulder and the guy's face went pink, realizing I had caught the comment.

His two friends were too busy laughing to give me their order, much less breathe, and the blonde was trying to hide his face so I gave a little fake-giggle and walked off, rolling my eyes once I had turned around.

Rose was at the counter when I got back there, counting out the bills she'd collected throughout the night.

"How much you up to?" I asked curiously.

"Twenty-three dollars. You?"

"Twenty, but I'm planning on cashin' in with those meat heads in that booth over there, so watch out." I jutted a thumb over to the table of guys.

"Oh, no, no, missy. I've got a sweet little old woman who just got back from winning big at bingo, you watch out." She snickered and swatted my butt as she left to attend to her customers.

I was just in hearing distance from my table when I decided it was time to check on them again, when the three boys were still recovering from our latest exchange and discussing something that made me stop.

"You better be careful with that mouth of yours, or our waitress might get all crazy on you like that radio chick. Remember that, Ryan?" the dark-haired one said.

"Oh yeah! When the radio guy answered that call and some girl just started wailing in on him about calling women psycho or some shit like that." 'Ryan' replied.

"I didn't call her psycho." The guy they called John snapped back, still embarrassed.

"Yeah, but you did just admitted you wanted her. She could be offended, who knows, she's a woman. They'll find any reason to yell at you." The dark haired guy laughed loudly.

_Cashing in may be harder than I thought…_

_…**zzZzZZ…**_

It wasn't until really late that the girls and I got back to the apartment. The rest of the diner's cooks and waitresses all stopped by once we had closed down for the night and threw us a mini goodbye party.

Then, once the party was over Vicki had some troubles with letting us go. She finally snapped after keeping her emotions in check all night and bawled like a little baby. It made me feel equally touched and frustrated at the same time. On one hand, I was glad she loved Rose, Bella, and me so much that she hated not having us employed at the diner anymore, but on the other, I hated that she assumed we were never going to stop by whenever we had time.

After a _lo-ongg _long talk about how much we would miss her as well, Vicki eventually let us leave and now it was two in the morning. I had to be up again in four and a half hours.

Awesome.

I collapsed onto my bed, shoes on and everything, and wanted nothing more than to clonk out right then until my alarm went off. But, I knew for a fact that wasn't going to happen. When Vicki let the floodgates open I was already about to burn out, so I slipped into the kitchen and chugged a glass of Mountain Dew… or three.

That put my grand total to about two hundred ounces of soda for the day and sixty of those ounces of the caffeine crack were consumed about an hour ago, max.

So, it was safe to say I wouldn't be catching any shut-eye tonight. I had already accepted the fact that I would have to pull an all-nighter when I poured that second glass, and I didn't really mind then.

Now I had four and a half hours to fill up. For the first thirty minutes I went through my closet and picked out my work clothes for the rest of the week, as well as the outfit I planned on wearing to _Santoreggia_'s grand opening.

Then I got the sudden urge to do some cleaning around the apartment, but was torn on whether or not to risk getting caught by Rosalie or Bella. If or when they found out I had so much soda pop, I'd have to listen to them try to convince me I have a serious problem.

Which is wrong.

My addiction is just a mild case, not terminal.

This left me sitting on my bed, staring at the wall, and free to let thoughts float around in my head. First thing that came to mind was that stupid radio DJ and how much I hated him, second was the fact that it was technically his fault I lost the bet with Rosalie for most tips and then I remembered what that group of boys talked about which led to my loss of the bet.

They were joking around about my phone call to the station and then they started wondering how they would have reacted to me. As a group, they decided they probably wouldn't have been as nice to me as Jazz was.

Basically, they thought I – or _Mary_ – was a bitch.

I didn't want to listen to them hate on me anymore, so I cut off their conversation by taking orders, minus the previous flirty mood which is how I think I lost.

When I came back at the end of their meal to give them the check, they had come back to the phone call and were now discussing how rude I had been to this guy who did nothing to me personally. This was where I started to feel bad.

The three boneheads did make a valid point. I had basically reamed this innocent guy for telling a funny story about a chick at a video store.

Looking back on the things I said, I definitely could see Jazz's argument about me proving his point that women were crazy. I mean the whole part where I complained that girls didn't get to have fun on dates because we were too busy worrying about our appearances and how fast things were moving and when it was appropriate to make a move was basically a lie. I worry about that stuff regardless whether I'm having fun or not. And I'm sure men do too.

Well, great. Now I _do_ feel like a bitch.

I glanced over at the clock and felt a little better when I realized another half hour had gone by, only three and a half more to go. During that time I really did try to stop obsessing over the phone call. My mind just kept reminding me of it though, and then I remembered I had sent that e-mail and… ugh. That was the stupidest decision ever.

I tried comforting myself in the fact that he didn't know who I was, but that didn't make me feel like less of an idiot.

By the time four o'clock rolled around, I had mentally warred with myself over stupid Jazz Whitlock and came to the conclusion that I didn't regret calling him out on insulting women, but I definitely should have approached the subject differently.

I also decided that it didn't make me hate him any less; he was pretty rude to me too.

Once I had made my peace with everything, I felt much lighter and happier. And way less cranky like I have been for the past two or three days. I felt more me.

Alice is generally not a negative person, people.

I just didn't know how to handle myself, which now that I think about it is probably why I increased my number of Mountain Dews per day.

With my renewed optimism, I told myself I didn't care if my friends thought I had a problem, I was going to clean all night if I wanted to. They could hold an interrogation regarding my obsessive caffeine disorder that kept me up the whole night later.

I started in the kitchen and sifted through the mile high pile of dishes in our sink that none of us ever had the time or energy to wash anymore. I wiped down all the counters, reorganized the Tupperware cabinet and mopped the floor because it still smelled like coffee from when Bella spilled hers a week ago.

I tackled the living room next, opting to shake the rug out on the fire escape instead of vacuuming so I didn't wake up my roommates, sorting the mess of papers all over into piles that were mine, Bella's, and Rose's and even went as far as dusting.

Last on my list was the bathroom. Now, I hated cleaning the bathroom for very different reasons than the normal person. I could handle scrubbing the toilet and getting mildew off the shower curtain (it's not like our bathroom was completely gross), but all the products that littered the counter just irritated me.

We didn't have cabinets - except for the one under the sink that held toilet paper and cleaning supplies – so the counter top had all our different hairsprays, foundations, brushes, face wash, and an endless number of lipstick tubes. It just felt like there wasn't room to do anything in there and it has bugged me everyday since I've lived here.

And it's not like it would do any good to organize it all anyway because once we've gone through the morning rituals in about an hour, everything will be unorganized again.

But, I cleaned it up anyway. I put all of Rosalie's crap on the back left corner of the counter, Bella's in the middle, directly behind the faucet, and mine in the back right corner. All products were arranged by size and then alphabetically.

I took a picture of the finished layout just so I could remember how much of an awesome job I did.

It was 5:45 a.m. by the time I finished all the chores, so I hopped in the shower quick so Bella wouldn't have to wait when she woke up. Then, being the nice roommate that I am, I started the coffee pot and set out Rose and Bells' thermoses for them, grabbing a bottle of MD for myself.

After doing a once-over of the entire apartment that I cleaned, I scurried back top my room to hide from the girls because I just knew they were going to get on to me for having caffeine so close to my 'bed time'.

Geez, they might as well be my mother.

I can just hear it now. _"Mary Alice Brandon! Do we need to cut you off?"_

Okay, so maybe that sounds more like a dealer than a mother.

There was nothing to do while I waited, and it was still ten minutes before anyone woke up, so what did I resort to?

"_Goooooood Morning, Seattle! This is Jazz Whitlock coming to you from KZIZ 98.9 FM and you're starting your day off right, here on my morning show, 'All That Jazz'. We've got some great music to listen to and prizes to give away so hop on out of bed and get movin'!_"

I flipped my middle finger at radio because, well, I could.

* * *

**Reviews are better then sending hate mail.  
(especially when reviewers get a tease)**

**My favorite:  
****Okay, lady, this has to stop. I get that I said some things you didn't like, and I am sorry, but that isn't going to change my opinion on women yet. Especially when _you_ are acting as the female population's representative. I don't know who voted you into this position, but its not boding well for the rest of the group.**

***This is the last chapter I have pre-written so I don't know how long it will be until I get the next chapter up... I'm experiencing a teeny bit (okay, a lot) of writer's block. But I WILL be finishing this fic in a timely manner, just so you don't get too worried ;)**

**Alright, I'm out!**

**Love,  
Emeleigh**


	10. Bruises & Stress

**sorry for the disappearing act. i honestly didn't do it on purpose. if you're still here, please enjoy and make sure to please please PLEASE read the a/n after the chapter!**

**i was too excited to finally post a chapter again so it hasn't been proofread by sophie. please just ignore any errors!**

_Chapter 9 - Bruises & Stress_  
**_Edward Masen_**

I sat in the slightly cluttered office, going over manual after manual on how to run all that fancy new equipment in the studio. I was having a hard time concentrating though because my butt was still sore from the other day.

When Angela and Sam had taken me to Vicki's for the first time, last Friday night, I was hesitant at first. It looked a little cheesy with the whole theme going on and the employees wearing 50's outfits, but soon after we arrived I changed my mind.

When we walked in the place was so alive. All the waitresses were dancing around to a very high-energy song that was vibrating through the speakers and there were so many customers. It was ridiculously packed.

I had to squeeze past a few people to actually get in the door and got separated from Angela and Sam. Seeing them waving me over to the table they managed to find, I started to walk over. Just as I moved behind one of the dancer girls I felt a dull sting in my jaw, followed by the feeling that my legs got hooked into something and pulled right out from under me.

At first, I wasn't aware of anything except a faint girl's voice apologizing. My only concern was that I totally wiped out in the middle of this restaurant and I had no idea how.

And the fact that my tailbone might have gotten a little crushed.

After feeling around to make sure I hadn't broken anything, I opened my eyes to face the crowd of people I'm sure were staring at me.

Except they weren't, and the only face I could see was mere inches away from my own.  
This woman was clearly employed at the diner because she was wearing those ridiculous cat-eye glasses that make your eyes look all squinty and huge at the same time and she was looking at me kind of weird.

She asked if I was okay and aside from my throbbing jaw and butt, I was, so I told her yes.

After a few more unnecessary apologies on her part, she realized we were still pressed together on the floor of the restaurant and jumped up, blushing.

That's when I realized how cute this girl actually was. Her co-workers were giving her a hard time about being such a klutz, because apparently she did stuff like this often, and her face just got more and more pink.

So fucking cute.

Then she finally took off the ridiculous glasses and I was a goner.

Her eyes were a deep chocolate color, like brownies or something, and she had eyelashes that reached out and almost touched her eyebrows when she looked up at me.

I hadn't realized the lady behind the counter had started talking to me, but when I saw the girl's cheeks redden again and look away, I caught the end of what she was saying.

The woman behind the counter asked one last time if I was okay, and me wanting to be all charming asked them not to tell anyone I got beat up by a girl, winked, then walked away.

Fucking winked.

I don't know what possessed me to, maybe my brain was just trying to mess with me, but it felt like it came off more creepy than flirty.

I am a failure at flirting. It's official.

I internally kicked myself as I walked over to the table and half-heartedly made conversation with Sam and Angela. Just as I had replayed the incident with the waitress for about the hundredth time, she walked up to our table.

I panicked for a few seconds while she talked to Sam and Angela, trying to think of a way to redeem myself and not come off weird or unable to translate my thoughts into words.

I ended up doing okay, although our conversation didn't stray very far from what I should order. It was a decent conversation though. I found out the Vicki Burger was actually delicious like she had suggested.

About halfway through our meal the cute girl was replaced by the woman from behind the counter earlier. I didn't get to see the pretty waitress again until we were walking out the door.  
She was trying to balance three different plates between her two arms and just about wiped out again, but thankfully one of her co-workers steadied everything before it all ended up on the floor.  
I hadn't realized it, but I had turned to run over and help her and let the door fall back against Sam.

Now he has a bruise on his arm, which he was not all that thrilled about, and I still have a black and blue tush.

It was pathetic really, the fact that I was still hung up on this girl throughout the weekend. I especially hated myself for letting her ruin my sleep schedule.

I lay in bed that night, all ready to doze off, teeth brushed and everything, but when I closed my eyes nothing happened. Seriously, nothing happened. There wasn't a thought in mind and I basically just laid there with my eyes closed.

I figured it was nothing a little T.V. couldn't fix, thinking that I would probably pass out ten minutes into whatever show I decided to watch.

Nope, I was wrong.

Instead, all I could do was pick out characteristics about any person that flashed across the screen that resembled the waitress.

One actress had brown hair, so did she.

Another was wearing the same soft, pink, barely-can-tell-it's-there lipstick, even an actor with a similar shade of brown eyes reminded me of her.

I seriously couldn't take it anymore and started banging my head against the backboard of my bed.

A little irrational? Yes. Was I hoping it might knock me into unconsciousness? Hell yes.

To be honest, I was actually starting to get a little pissed because I wake up at the ass-crack of dawn every Monday through Friday and when I get the chance to sleep in I'm bombarded with all these feelings and emotions towards a freaking woman.

So then, thanks to my fan-freaking-tastic idea to bash my head against a hard surface repeatadly, not only did my butt still hurt from falling earlier that night, but now I had a huge goose-egg on the back of my head.

When four o'clock in the morning started to roll around, I got so fed up with trying to do anything without thinking of this lady, that I just gave up and started my day a little earlier than most people.

I got out of bed, showered, and then gathered up two baskets of my dirty clothes to take to the laundromat.

The plus was that, I'm sure, very few people washed their clothes at five in the morning on a Saturday, so I would have all the machines to myself.

My silver-linings have seriously gone downhill since Friday night.

I was totally right anyway and was able to stuff four washers, two for my white load and two for my color load, with my laundry. I only really needed two machines, but I took up four because I could.

It cost me eight quarters more, but hey, I'm over it.

While my clothes were getting washed I had nothing to do but wait, so what did I subconsciously start doing?

I started thinking of the cute waitress again.

Of course.

So, what I have learned over the weekend is to never eat at a 50's themed diner named Vicki's, where they apparently only hire the hottest waitresses in Seattle, if I plan on ever sleeping again..

Well, too late now.

I slung the most recent manual I had been skimming through on the desk in front of me, the thwap as the spine of the book hit the wood made me jump in surprise as I was pulled from my day dream.

I hadn't been the most alert person since my lack of sleep.

I roughly rubbed the little eye boogers from my tear ducts and hoisted myself out of the desk chair. Grabbing my coffee cup, for what felt like the zillionth time today, I headed over to the small kitchen to pour myself some more coffee.

Carlisle was poking around in the fridge when I entered, "More coffee, Edward?"

"I had a long weekend…" I half-mumbled, half-laughed.

"Ah, too much action from the ladies?" he teased.

My eyes went wide for a second before returning back to normal, this was not the first thing I'd ever thought I would discuss with my boss in the break room.

"No, no, no… nothing like that." I said almost frantically. (Its not like I had enough oomph in me to be anywhere near frantic anyway.)

"So no lady action at all?"

I didn't know what to do.

I just nodded.

"Well, you'll be at the big opening of the McCarty's restaurant? I'm not supposed to say anything at work because Jasper's so eager you know, but Esme and a few girls from the magazine will be there as well. You boys can come sit with us. I'll introduce you to a group of three very interesting women." He clapped a hand on my shoulder, gave me a bro-nod, and then exited the room.

_Did he just-?_

_…Yeah. I think he did._

I looped the last minute around in my head a few more times trying to decipher where in our measly conversation the topic had transitioned from how exhausted I looked to the guy who signs my paycheck hooking me up with three girls.

I was too tired to even try to figure it out.

...Or even complain, really.

**_...zzZzZZ…_**

I dragged my feet down the hallway as I made my way to my door and took three tries to successfully slip my key through the hole, turn it, and unlock it.

Once inside, I crashed face first onto my couch with my feet dangling off the edge. I let my nose smush against the cushion and felt myself slowly slip into the blackness from the cease of oxygen intake.

Basically, suffocating myself seemed to be the secret to all this insomniac crap.

**_…zzZzZZ…_**

I woke up, by my guess two to three hours later, with my cheek smushed against the cushion and drool seeping from the corner of my mouth.

My phone was visibly thrown all the way across my living room floor, it's notification light viciously sprouting on and off in red followed by a beep every few seconds.

I ignored the stupid thing and slumped my way over to the kitchen, realizing it was past my supper time and I was starving.

I whipped up a quick ham sandwich, grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and then walked over to pick up my annoying, and still beeping, cell phone.

I had one missed call and an awaiting text message.

_If you were truly a good bro, you would answer when I called and come help me out down at the restaurant NOW. -Em_

I looked from the text and back to my sandwich.

_I can be there in a few if you promise to feed me. -E_

_Deal. -Em_

I tossed my slightly bitten into sandwich in a plastic baggy and into the fridge for later and high tailed my ass down there.

When I arrived there was a plate of lasagna waiting for me, Jasper sitting at the table with his head in his hands, and a hysterical Emmett muttering things to himself and pointing around the room.

I made a straight shot for the food and tried to avoid Emmett for the time being. He seemed a little preoccupied at the moment and didn't even notice I had walked in.

Neither did Jazz, seeing that he now had his eyes shut tight and was rubbing his temples.

"Why tonight?" I heard Emmett's voice raise a little, "And where the hell is Edward?"

"Dude, how the hell should I know." Jasper sighed.

"Um... present." I spoke up with a huge globby chunk of food in my mouth.

I have never seen someone spin around so fast in my life.

"Shit, Edward! Why didn't you say something!"

I shrugged and pointed at my plate which was now completely empty.

Emmett looked like he might go off on me, but controlled himself and started speaking super speedy fucking fast.

"Okay, so one of my sisters fell and broke her wrist so Ma and Pop have to watch my nieces and nephews while she's getting checked out and they just called and said she has close to an hour and a half wait at the ER and don't know if they'll be able to get down here tonight. We still have to set all the places at the tables, we've got some reserved seating that still needs to be marked, Ma bought these fake vines or some branches crap that still need to be hung up around the walls and pillars, not to mention the health inspector is coming tomorrow morning and we have to be up to code!"

He looked at us expectantly so Jasper shot out of his chair and ran over to the box of artificial plant shit with a nail gun. Emmett was still staring at me so I quickly rushed over to help him as Em retreated back into the kitchen.

"Just an FYI, when Emmett gets stressed out he sort of goes ballistic and just... crazy, so be patient with him." Jasper snickered.

"Really? I hadn't noticed from his huge, twitchy eyes."

_**...zzZzZZ...**_

Eventually we had accomplished everything necessary for the health inspector's visit tomorrow and Emmett had mellowed out some.

Well, some meaning he wasn't yelling at us anymore.

Now we were going through the list of reservations that needed a table marked for the grand opening.

"Alright, so let's put the Henderson party of six up by that party of five we just marked." Emmett called out as I wrote down the last name and number on a card and handed it to Jazz to go put on the right table.

We had a system where we listened to Emmett discuss seating arrangements with himself, wait to hear a name and a number, then I would write it down on the place card and Jasper would run it over to the right table.

He flipped pages in the reservation book and hesitated a little for before looking up at the two of us. "Why is it requested that KZIZ is seated with Volterra Magazine?"

"Well I'm sure Carlisle and Esme wanted to be at the same table, but also seated with their company or whatever." Jazz shrugged.

Emmett looked thoughtful for a minute, "That's a party of seven. Do you know who...?" He trailed off and studied the book, never finishing his sentence.

"I know it will be Carlisle, Esme, Jazz, me, and then I heard Esme was bringing three women from the magazine." I offered up the information hoping it would help whatever confusion he was experiencing.

Jasper seemed to perk up a little when he heard about the three girls. I had forgotten he wasn't really supposed to know about that yet.

"Yeah, yeah. One of them, Isabella, wrote the article and is gonna write the review for the grand opening that will be in Volterra. I remember Ma saying she could bring some others along. You don't think..." He stopped and looked at the book again.

"Oh no." Jasper said, exasperated, "Dude, don't get your hopes up. Just because they work at the same place doesn't mean this Isabella chick even knows the girl you've been crushin' on. Don't get your hopes up, man."

"Shut up, Jazz. I was just curious." Emmett shot him a dirty look and shook his head.

"But, let's put you guys over at the table by the kitchen and move the party that we put there earlier to the other side of the room."

**_...zzZzZZ..._**

We got things all fixed up earlier than I had anticipated which was fantastic because I was ready to get away from this frustrating, lunatic version of Emmett.

Once I found myself back laying in my bed, wide awake, I made a deal with myself that if I went to sleep right now and got a good nights rest the remainder of this busy week, then the first free night I had, I would go down to Vicki's and try to find the girl I seem to be so infatuated with.

Hopefully, that would be enough to allow myself some much needed shut-eye.

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**good? i would love to hear your thoughts.**

**also, there are only going to be either one or two - possibly three at the _complete most_ - more chapters. when i began this fic i wasn't sure how long it would end up, but i don't see it being much longer than around 13 chapters. and that's if i add more to my outline. **

**and edward's photo to go along with this chapter are on my profile. as are my blog, twitter, everything you could possibly need if you wanted to get in contact with me.**

**AND .Lera will be translating "555-1073" into Russian, so that's pretty awesome :) i'll have a link on my profile to her once she begins posting.**

**.**

**favorite part?**

**i liked wacked out emmett. that is exactly/kinda how i was while trying to re-group and get back into the flow of this fanfic thing ;)**

**.**

**Reviews are better than a bruised tush!**

**(i can't promise a teaser but i won't reply back with nothing!)**

**Love,  
Emeleigh**

**p.s. if you haven't already please check out my entry for The Twilight 25! it's a series of prompted drabbles and one-shots that i am very proud of!**


	11. Grand Openings & Tardiness

**A/N: Holy Momma, you guys must hate me.**

**Please don't hate me though. I'm home for the summer and I'm gonna finish this sucker up. Here's a new chapter, I really, really, really, really, really, ****really, really, really, really, really, REALLY, hope you like it. I don't know if my writing is the same style as when I started writing this story because I was like fucking 16 or 17 years old and now I'm 20... sooooooo yeahhhh...**

******Also, heads up that there's only one or two chapters (at most) left in this story.**

******Enjoy! **

*******goes back into hiding to finish this thing before you all hunt me down to kill me***

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_Chapter 11_  
_Grand Openings and Tardiness_

**_Bella Swan_**

"…And this is where your party will be seated." Mrs. McCarty gestured to the large round table situated directly beside the entrance to the main kitchen.

It was a roomy, dark mahogany table for eight, decorated with fancy purple and green cloth napkins wrapped in gold cuffs. Just looking at it made my mouth water; I had tasted the McCarty's food and absolutely could not wait until more made its way into my belly.

"We're sharing a table with Carlisle's radio team, right?" I asked her.

"You're darn tootin'!" Emmett McCarty boomed as he burst out of the kitchen doors. "I happen to personally know the gentlemen Carlisle is bringing along and they are a pair of charmers, let me tell you." He nudged my arm and winked.

"Emmie, we had a meeting about professionalism this morning didn't we? A chef at the newest restaurant in Seattle does not use the phrase _darn tootin'_." His mother scolded.

"Yeah, yeah, but I thought I had a few more hours to gallivant around like a fool before the big opening." He teased. She just rolled her eyes and dismissed herself, noticing her husband struggling with an armful of menus near the front.

"Em, sweetie, finish the tour with Isabella while I help you poor Poppa!" She called as she rushed over.

"Righty-O, Momma-roony!" He chuckled and led me back to the kitchen. "This is the kitchen. This is where the food is made." He shrugged and waved his arms, showcasing the room.

"Ah, is that what it's for?" I teased. "Actually, your mother showed me everything I needed for now. The rest of the review relies on tonight."

"Well, in that case, you tell the waiter to let me know when your order is placed and I'll be sure to work some of my extra special magic just for your dish."

"That's all I ask, Emmett." I laughed and started to head into the main dining room.

"So, you're coming with a whole boat-load of fancy magazine people?" He questioned as he followed me.

"You're darn tootin'!" I smirked, "It's a good thing too, now that I hear Carlisle is forcing us to share our evening with his employees."

"Hey now, I wasn't lying when I called those guys charmers. You and your lady friends better watch your backs; one of them is my neighbor and the other is my roommate, so I've seen these fellas in action. One wink and they'll have you weak at the knees."

"Oh, I see! Thanks for the heads up, my girls and I will be ready for the flirtation attack." I made a show of winking at Emmett as I began to exit the building.

"Ah, shit. If these girls are half as smooth as you, my boys don't stand a chance!" He called across the dining room.

"And your boys are half as sweet as you, neither do we!" I yelled back and left without waiting for a response.

As the door closed behind me I could hear his mother chastise Emmett for his unprofessional swearing and his excuse being that I started it.

**_Edward Masen_**

_Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrringggg! Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrringggg! Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrringggg!_

"Lo? Whozis?" I mumbled into the receiver.

"Is your ass still in bed, too?! GET UP, LAZY BONES, IT'S GRAND OPENING DAY!" Emmett screamed on the other end.

I glanced at the clock on my night stand, 1:38 PM, I didn't have to be at the restaurant until 5:30 tonight. I don't know what the rush was.

"Emmett, it's_ your_ grand opening day and while I'm very excited for you I am also very tired. AND just so you know I am not still in bed, I have been napping because I go to work at five freakin' a.m.!"

"Sheesh, crabby pants, please do continue your slumber because I don't want you all cranky when you meet Bella and her supposedly hot friends tonight."

Well, damn. Now he's got my attention. "Bella and her hot friends? That a girl band or something?" I joked.

I heard a loud huff come from Emmett, "No. Bella is the woman writing the review, reason enough to be on your best behavior tonight, and she's coming with Esme and two other magazine ladies. Also, remember that you're sitting at the same table so I'm really counting on you guys to impress; I've already talked you and Jazz up anyway so bring your a-game."

"Wait a second, talked us up? Are we there to support you or get auctioned off to the highest bidder?!"

"Essentially both. I just thought that if they had good company to compliment the already delicious food the review would be that much better. Also, you remember Blondie works there too. The closer we get to people that work at the magazine, the closer I get to blondie."

I groaned and let my head fall back, "You're still hung up on that chick?"

"Yes. See you at 5:30." Then the line went dead.

I knew I had no room judging Emmett when I was still hung up on my own brunette chick, but at least I wasn't trying to creepily get close to anyone she might have contact with to find her.

_Not that I wouldn't if I had the chance, but whadderya gonna do about it?_

I remembered Emmett insinuating that Jasper was asleep when he called him before getting a hold of me, so I shuffled through the halls and knocked on their door. Jasper greeted me with a lazy nod and made room for me to come in.

We had all been so exhausted these past few weeks, I wonder if it as something in the water…

Jazz and I ended up falling back asleep watching some documentary on some crazy conspiracy theory about how the Illuminati killed Michael Jackson and didn't even think we'd need to set an alarm.

I woke up to Jasper violently shaking me. I snapped my head over to the clock, it was 5:25 PM. We were going to be late. Emmett was going to murder us.

_**Bella Swan**_

Esme was gracious enough to let us leave work an hour early so we had time to get ready for the grand opening of _Santoreggia_ tonight. With my hair perfectly styled and outfit picked out with care, I headed over to the restaurant early for a quick run through of my piece thus far with Esme. The girls promised to see me in a bit and excitedly made my way over to my new favorite eatery.

Lines had already begun to form at the entrance, but I snuck around to the side door I was informed of earlier by Mrs. McCarty so I could slip in without hassle. I felt pretty badass as I passed the mob of people crowding around the hostess' podium and took my seat next to Esme.

We went over my notes and interviews for the article and she was very impressed with the detail of my work. (I didn't reveal that I had devoted so much time to this project because of my new lack of a sleep schedule.)

As the air quickly became filled with chatter and the delicious aroma of Italian food, Emmett stuck his head out of the kitchen for a quick hello before the rush began.

"Your table looks a little empty Miss Swan." He raised an eyebrow as he eyed the untouched place settings.

"My girls are on their way. There was a slight shoe emergency, so they're running a little late." I snickered. They were on their way out to door when Rosalie's heel broke. Typical Rose, being the cause of their tardiness. "What about your buddies, I'm very much anticipating their charming attendance." I tried raising one of my own eyebrows. I probably looked like a fool; I could never quite get that trick down.

He seemed a little irritated, "They're on their way as well." It seemed as though he tried to smile, but it was a forced one. After making a little more small talk with myself, Carlisle, and Esme he retreated back to the kitchen where he was needed.

We were brought appetizers and I was beginning to worry about Alice and Rosalie when I got a text letting me know it was hell trying to find a parking spot and they were on their way in now. It was great timing too because I noticed Emmett found a moment away from the kitchen again and was rounding the dining area, making sure everything was going smoothly.

Of course he had nothing to worry about; everything was going off without a hitch.

Just then I spotted the girls weaving around the many tables and chairs as well as a couple of guys rapidly getting closer to our table as well. I turned my head in their direction and that's when I saw him.

_**Edward Masen**_

Jasper and I all but literally flew off the couch and rushed to make ourselves presentable, and then we rushed to the car, rushed out of the parking lot, rushed down the street, rushed into the parking lot of the restaurant, rushed like a bitch to find the worst parking spot in the lot, rushed in through the side door since the front was so crowded, and practically sprinted to our table.

…And that's when I saw her.

_**Alice Brandon**_

I was so annoyed with Rosalie. We were leaving the apartment ten whole minutes early and her damn heel pops off. I mean, honestly?! Can the girl subconsciously not stand to let us arrive anywhere on time?

I just about struck her over the head with a frying pan when she couldn't just grab another pair of heels. When we finally made it to Santoreggia I was on the verge of a tantrum because it was like a mosh pit at a metal concert. Everyone and their dog were trying to get in this place. We finally squeezed through the crowd and spotted Bella at a table towards the back. I pulled Rosalie behind me as I made a last ditch effort to arrive in a timely manner.

Then I saw him.

**_Jasper Whitlock_**

The only thing I kept picturing as Edward was pushing 30 miles over the speed limit was not how we were going to talk our way out of a ticket, but the many tortures Emmett would inflict on us for being late. Those thoughts alone propelled me forward at superhero speeds towards our table in the back. I briefly caught the stink-eye from Emmett when I noticed him strolling around the dining room, greeting customers. That look alone had me consumed with mental images of my body in a black bag.

Then I saw her.

_**Rosalie Hale**_

Yeah, okay, so I made us late. You would think that by now it wouldn't surprise Alice as much as it does. It wasn't like I purposefully broke my heel; that was my favorite pair! I wasn't even aware of how mad she was until her hold on my arm began the match the strength of fucking King Kong.

We were just about to our table with Esme, Carlisle, and Bella where I would finally be freed from her death grip.

…But the pain wasn't even on my mind anymore because I saw him.

_**Emmett McCarty**_

Those guys were dead meat.

_"We'll be there on time,"_

_"I'm just taking a nap,"_

_"We're big boys, stop worrying about us Em."_

Yeah, the next nap either of them takes is gonna be a reeeaaaallll long one.

I was livid to say the least, but luckily Bella's friends were running late too. I took a few deep breaths before entering the main room to visit with some of the patrons and hopefully calm my nerves. They all paid me great compliments and I was relieved my cooking wasn't a total bust. I finally saw the two jackasses slip through the side door and stared them down as they sheepishly walked toward their table.

…But my anger immediately subsided because I saw her.

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**A/N: Ah, shit, go ahead. Hate me. I would if I were you. I make you wait years for an update and then I leave it on a cliff hanger.**

**As always, reviewers will get a teaser for the next chapter!**

**Please review and let me know what you think, even if you wanna tell me how much you hate me. I can take it, I promise ;)**

**With love,  
Emeleigh**


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